Mr. Tim Cullinan:

I will begin with the Senator's questions. On getting over the hump, the reason we brought these proposals forward was we saw where the sector was at. It is at a very critical juncture and there is a risk of the sector going under. The Senator is right we were in a very difficult situation prior to the war in Ukraine but that has put at least €100 per tonne onto the cost of feed. That has created serious consequences for not just the pig sector but all of agriculture because of fuel and fertiliser costs and we are trying to manage our way through them at the moment. The other question was on how the money would be distributed. The plan here was about getting liquidity back into the system because what we have at the moment is the fact that the money farmers are acquiring when they sell their pigs to the factory is not even covering the cost of feed. The money was going to be used to pay down the debt that had been building up in farms by buying feed. That is where the money would be distributed to. The proposal was we would look at the losses for the first quarter of the year, remunerate farmers for those losses and then look at the situation as the year developed, maybe for the months of May and June. We have seen already a chink of light that the price of pigs to farmers has increased by 20 cent per kilo but already that has been eroded by another price increase in the cost of feed. It is a very difficult situation but a twofold solution is needed here. One part is direct aid and the other is the stability fund that, as I said already, farmers are willing to contribute to themselves. That is where we would see it going. The funding would definitely be used to alleviate the pressure from a cash point of view on farms and ensure farmers can continue to buy feed to feed their pigs.

The Deputy asked how long for the assistance. It is similar. What we wanted to do is assess the losses and get to a point where farmers would get back into a profitable situation. We are all realists here. We do not expect that the State prop up the industry on a long-term basis. One thing about the pig sector is we do not get basic payments or single farm payments. This is the first time the sector has come to the Government looking for direct aid or funding to ensure, as I said, its viability. The Deputy knows that in our county many people are employed in the processing sector of the pig industry as well, along with farming and a lot of grain-growers in Tipperary would be contributing also. The other point he raised was pressure from retailers. There is always pressure from retailers to pay back an increase. We are all hearing about food inflation at the moment and it is very topical but nobody is sustaining the inflation farmers are at the moment, especially pig farmers. It is inflation of 130% or 150%. We need to be clear the price of food must go up to compensate for the massive losses farmers are incurring at the moment. How are we going to get back into a profitable situation? There are a couple of areas there. We have to get more back from the retail sector as 50% of what we produce is sold to it. Again, we have to look at new markets. We have to look at Mexico. There is a substantial demand for pig meat in Mexico at the moment. That is an important market to offset the pig meat that was going into the UK. California is another market where there is an increasing demand for pig meat. Bord Bia and the Minister must continue seeking out new markets because we are an exporting nation, not just in pig meat but in dairy and dairy produce as well.