Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has asked a pertinent question. The witnesses may not have all the facts and figures but will they give a short synopsis regarding that question to the committee? There are issues with the pig and poultry industries at the moment. I had a couple of pig farmers on to me this week. They are caught in a perfect storm and are under huge pressure. A man was on to me today who cannot get feed for his pigs. He was told the barley is not available. How do the witnesses see those two sectors surviving this? For dairy, beef and grain, the farm gate price looks like it will respond to the prices that are there but in the white meat sector, the response seems to be the opposite way. There is a negative price response. I do not understand, given this food scarcity, why those sectors are under such pressure price-wise. I understand the increase in the cost of inputs but not the prices they are getting in the marketplace. How will those two sectors survive, even in the short term, given the way input costs have gone and their prices?