Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am thankful for the opportunity to say something about this matter. It is good to hear from the IFA president and his team. This is a very serious matter in the county I am from. It is a reasonable estimate that approximately one third of the production in Ireland is based in County Cavan. The witnesses might confirm that. There may be a relatively small number of farmers involved, but this takes in a large number of jobs. These are indigenous and local jobs, with entire communities built around the pig industry and pig farming sector. Schools and shops depend on spin-off effects in small villages and towns. Small farms are sustained because a person with a small farm can work in the pig sector and make a bit of money to supplement that farm and keep it going. The estimated job numbers nationally are 8,000 but there is a much greater economic impact in this.

The IFA president compared this with the likes of Intel. That comparison is absolutely true. Moreover, in the areas we have these jobs, we could not attract other industries and, normally, we could not attract other jobs. We would be dislocating entire communities. The pig farming communities in our county are involved in GAA clubs and myriad other ways of supporting local communities. The implications of this sector failing in a county like Cavan are enormous.

The IFA president indicated is that 50% of the market in the UK has gone but where is the other 50%? Where is that country sourcing product to replace that from the Irish sector? Could we double back on it at all? The milling sector is under enormous pressure. If that sector collapsed partially or fully, even when better days arise, there would be a major structural problem in getting the industry up and going again. Will the witnesses comment on that?

Will Mr. Cullinan or his colleagues explain the position of the Brexit adjustment fund? From their professional work and involvement with Brussels they might know about the fund and who will benefit from it? Surely a county like Cavan, on the border with Northern Ireland and hit by Brexit in myriad ways, with the possibility of losing its indigenous pig industry, is a classic case to benefit from the fund?

It is not popularly understood that €50 million was being offered from the farming sector. It is missed by many people in the news and that must be said again. It was a patriotic and very reasonably structured offer. What is the difficulty there? Where precisely is the difficulty in implementing that loan scheme? It seems to me that such an opportunity should be grasped immediately. As my colleague, Senator Lombard, said, this has been done in the insurance industry and it appears a very reasonable proposition. Where is the difficulty and why can we not do it? Will the witnesses comment on the position of the Brexit adjustment fund? It is right that there would be direct aid and there are stories that there shall be announcements after today's Cabinet meeting. We support sectors in difficulty in this country.

Will the IFA president and his colleagues explain their comment that the markets may pick up next year? Perhaps that could be properly understood by the Government and the people. Surely if there is a prospect for the market improving, it would an absolute scandal and verging on criminality to allow the sector to collapse? I was speaking with a pig farmer the other night; I regularly chat to such people as they are all my neighbours or based around me. This pig farmer named four or five other pig farmers in the area who were in the process of going out of business. That will affect jobs, local shops and schools etc. Will the witnesses comment on that? I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to speak. This is a crisis, and it is not being taken sufficiently seriously in the context of the parts of the country it is hitting.