Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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I am just putting it out there. What is the Beef Plan Movement's position on forward contracts with retailers and developed a new brand of suckler beef?

What are the views of the industry representatives on climate change and sustainability, which everyone is on about, in respect of the suckler herd and how we go forward on that? According to what they have told us, 338 feedlots produce 18 or 19% of the beef in the country. That means if we keep going down the road we are going down, approximately 1,350 farmers will be able to produce all the beef in this country, based on what was required last year, if one does the figures. Is it sustainable for 338,000 farmers to run through 1,000 cattle each, and will their products be sold abroad stating that they were reared on grass? I come from a farming background, as do most of us here, so let us be honest. The small family farm produces an animal reared on grass, but these cattle are in sheds most of the time. Let us not be codding ourselves. It is time we call a halt to the feedlot system, which is mostly controlled by factories, and they should not deny this. There is a back-door system within it, so if cattle are not coming in the front door, they are coming in the back door. That has to be called out once and for all. Are the representatives afraid of that, or worried about it?

I agree that retailers such as Aldi, Tesco, or Lidl, will say they want 30-month meat, and that is fair enough. Are the industry bodies in favour of working with the Department and farming bodies to go to those retailers and put a proposal forward that if one has a Bord Bia-approved farm and an animal is on its third movement, there should not be a problem? The same animal welfare regulations apply no matter where one goes. If a farmer sells to someone who is Bord Bia-approved, and he holds that animal for the 30 days, he is entitled to do so provided they are Bord Bia-approved. The representatives said they have scientific evidence, but I have the facts regarding what happened to farmers. Last May, if a farmer had cattle over 30 months with eight movements, and every dot joined, he got the flat rate for them regardless, for both heifers and cows. There was one simple reason, which was factories had their tongues out for them. Cattle were being killed with no questions, and I will show proof of it. Why then was it the case that all these rules were needed three, four, or six months later? Why were farmers whose animals were under 22 months ringing factories and not able to get their cattle killed? They got hit because they went over 22 months. Why was there a clause brought in halfway through, that was then gotten rid of when a specification under 440 kg was brought in? The fellow who had the big Charolais bullock was gone out the gate. He was cut down. Every excuse was used, and I will make no apology for saying it straight.

What has been done to farming communities and small farmers in this country over the past six months is outrageous and scandalous. The representatives said that there are 34 or 35 factories in this country, and they talked about employment, but I can guarantee, one can pull a dog's tail for as long as one likes, but sooner or later he or she will to bite, and farmers are ready to bite now. It is going to go one of two ways. Those farmers are going to get out if they are not treated right by the factories, or we are heading for landlordism with the Beef Plan Movement's 1,300 friends will produce all the cattle in this country. The representatives might not like to hear that, but those are the facts on the ground when one talks to the farmers. They can use all the scientific evidence they want. There is a problem because we have extra cattle to get rid of, and I agree that we need to work with exporters. I come from a suckler neck of the woods, from Donegal down to Clare and out to Longford, and it is at a low ebb at the moment, because beef farmers are sick to the teeth of factories and of losing money. I am not against factories; these are just pure blunt facts. If they want to ensure factories and farmers are sustainable going into the future, the facts need to change fairly quickly, or it is over. I thank the Chairman.