Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)
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Where I come from is not a huge dairy part of the country. I saw when the quotas went up in springtime last year, the huge investment people made and it is vitally important the banks do not put pressure on farmers. When things look good, the bankers are out there willing to throw out their money but when some little thing happens, they put the pressure on and want to call that money back in.

This a time to be reasonable with people and to give them an opportunity to get over this little difficulty they face. With our current strong, positive outlook, there is a chance for the future. The banks should not tighten up on farmers at this time. I have spoken to farmers who are experiencing serious cash flow problems, particularly small farmers who do not turn over much milk. Many farmers use their co-operatives where they sell their milk to get their feed and so on. In June and July, they had small cheques coming in.

It is crucial that the EU intervention price be increased. There was an opportunity to do that and it should be examined again. The €500 million aid package will be a help and, as Deputy Deering said, providing 75% of basic payment is welcome but when we get to December and January, farmers will be in difficulty because that is the time they need money as the spring approaches and they have to spend a great deal of money on feed and so on. The outlook is good but there will be a difficulty for the next few months and it has to be managed for farmers.