Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will keep this short because I realise the witnesses have been here a while. Speaking as somebody from a farming background, it is heartening to sit here and listen to people who genuinely have the interests of farming at heart. I think my colleagues would say the same. As Deputies Fitzmaurice and Ring said earlier, there has been a lot of harshness in the public arena in recent years towards farming. Like the Deputies, I get annoyed when I see debates on national television and radio stations, which clearly and unfairly point fingers at the farming community. As it causes quite a lot of anxiety in the farming community, this is an important discussion. I say to the national media that I hope from here on, they will have people like the witnesses on when they want professors on, and have balanced debates. A lot of times at the weekend I listen to this and I get furious. I tell myself I am going to send an email and ring in but then I do not do it. I feel it is shocking. I say this because if you go back a number of years, the farming community wants to do the right thing for the environment. If you go back many years ago, to the first rural environment protection scheme, REPS, there was more than 90% involvement by the farming community. There are some problems with ACRES but at least the scheme will be adopted. The Minister and the Government are trying to ensure as many farmers as possible can get in on it. I believe farmers will adopt ACRES too. They want to do that, and they are concerned about the environment.

A lot of young people approach me to tell me they would like to go into farming, stick with it and make a living out of it. I have hope for the future, because I do not think we should lose sight of the fact that in our current balance of payments, looking back at last year, there was €15.5 billion of agri-exports. The vast bulk of agricultural materials produced in this country are exported, so there is hope there. Like many of my colleagues I am concerned about certainty for the future and trying to eliminate red tape. Red tape is a huge issue for farmers. There are a lot of schemes and the schemes are good. I do not know what the witnesses' opinions are on the possibility that we could condense the schemes together.

Our horticultural sector almost collapsed. It is good to hear Dr. Butler and Professor O'Mara talk about apprenticeships coming in, particularly on the landscaping side. The whole area of what Ireland could do in horticulture needs to be tackled. We spent €80 million last year on imported apples. The best country in the world in which to produce cooking apples is Ireland, and we are importing €80 million worth of them. I also know that the glasshouse industrial mode is expensive, and heating is a huge problem, but it is virtually impossible to get an Irish tomato. We are importing more and more vegetables that we can produce in this country. I have raised this previously, as the Chair can confirm. That is an area we need to tackle. I often tell the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, that if he is serious about carbon count, it would be wise to subsidise Irish farmers to grow the stuff we can at home in order that we would not have to import it by bringing in massive cargos. They do enormous damage. If you look at ships and planes and so on, we are told the damage is done. Would it not make a lot of sense to have a scheme to subsidise Irish people in horticulture to produce more of our own?

Blueberries is another crop. We are all into good fruits and good food. The blueberry is a massively popular fruit in this country. We are told it is a good antioxidant. It grew perfectly on Irish bogs. I guarantee that if you go into a shop tomorrow morning and look at the labels you will see Chile, Brazil and Peru. Imagine all of that coming from South America. People will say it is never going to happen, but we can make it happen and we should make it happen. It perfectly fits into the environmental arguments. If you want to do more for the planet and to really be good in respect of the carbon count, this is what you do. It would be well worth a Government initiative to subsidise horticultural farmers to do that. I have a horticultural background and it is what I trained in. It annoys me how bad we have become at paying heed to what is coming in from abroad, which is doing enormous damage to the environmental cause. I am throwing that out there. The witnesses can tell me if they think it is a ridiculous argument. They can tell me if we should tackle it. I have always believed in fighting for things and making them happen. There is a huge opportunity for more people to get involved in horticulture. I thank the witnesses for their presentation.