Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad of the opportunity to contribute. I thank Mr. Keane for his excellent work and the fierce input he puts into his job. He has made an impression on committee members. He has come in here diligently. His has been a massive performance and I thank him for that.

All of us, especially the farmers, know what has happened over the past 18 months. Going back to October 2021, we all remember that the price of fertiliser started to increase. As we got closer to December, the boys came back from the co-ops with the news that it was probably going to be cheaper in the new year. Farmers traditionally buy a bit of fertiliser before the end of the year to keep their accounts right but at that stage many of them held off buying until January. The next thing was that the price was creeping up and up, and that was before the war in Ukraine. As we know, the war then started and the thing escalated. Then in March, when farmers really needed fertiliser and were going to buy some amount of it, they could not get it. It was not available in March. As Mr. Kissane has said, the co-ops had a store of fertiliser at the lower price, the 2021 price, before costs went up. They held onto it in March as the price went up and up. I raised the matter with the Taoiseach, who answered. He then came back to me with a letter. The spin he put on it was that the co-ops were ensuring they bought fertiliser near the end of 2022 so they would have a supply for the farmers. They did buy it dear at that time but they had bought it cheaper the year before.

I thank the North of Ireland and the UK for bringing down the cost of fertiliser to what it is today. Fertiliser has come down all the way to south Kerry. It is far cheaper to buy it in the North than what the cost would have been if the co-ops were let at it. The bigger co-ops are joined up together. There are only cents in the differences in the price of their fertiliser. That is a monopoly that should be investigated. I thank the UK and the North of Ireland for whatever decrease has happened. I have heard, as have many others, that smaller merchants are selling fertiliser cheaper than the bigger co-ops. The bigger co-ops are trying to stop the suppliers selling to them and to hold it back from them so they can sell at their own price. That is very unfair. We need action on this because farmers have been driven down through the ground by the co-ops over the past 12 months. There has been no fairness.

The co-operatives were supported over the years to become what they are now but many farmers are very disillusioned with what the co-operatives have done and continue to do. Why does the Government not ask questions? Why does the Minister not ask questions? Where is the consumer regulator? This has driven up inflation and the cost of food and is affecting the whole country. I have been here all day and have to ask the question because the co-operatives are getting more for the fertiliser. Does that mean the Government gets more tax from it?