Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

This is an important debate. I wish the new Minister well and thank the new Fine Gael spokesman on agriculture and food, Deputy Naughten, for tabling this important motion for discussion.

I will say something a little different to what other Members have said. I am one of the few practising farmers in the Dáil, an ever decreasing number as far as I can see. I share the positive view that the change to the single farm payment will be of some use. However, there are commentators running with this ball who do not fully understand what is involved. The payment will be a good thing if everything else allied to it clicks into place.

I will explain what I mean. Last week I went to buy my fertiliser which cost €70 per tonne more than last year. A neighbour built a slatted house and because of the doubling of the price of iron, the house cost almost twice as much as it would have done five years ago. Veterinary bills have quadrupled in the past four or five years. If all those input costs into farming continue to increase at those rates and the single farm payment remains an average of €10,000 per farm, let nobody tell me farmers will fly high on that sum. Some commentators have also suggested that a cutback in stock numbers will mean better quality. One can only cut back so far. On some of the fertile ground in this country, if one removed even 10% of the stock, one would not even control the grass.

It is against this background I must sound a note of caution. If it happens that product prices do not increase, farmers do not get more for their weanlings next year than they got last year, the factory beef price is not higher next year and the year after than it was last year and the price of sheep does not keep pace with input costs, we will have major problems. The Minister must remember that around the table at which she sits in Brussels, the single farm payment was introduced to have a cheap food policy. The EU personnel involved believe that the price of food will fall. We will see what happens.

Whatever else the Minister does while in Kildare Street, she should ensure the ship sails for live exports. I congratulate her on what she has done so far. She is paid to do that and it is what she should be doing. If we had an Irish Minister for Agriculture and Food who did not do so, we would lose heart altogether. Of course, it is an economic matter for those concerned, and they will not sail, no matter what any Irish Minister says, unless it pays them to do so. That is the important part, and the Minister must ensure that people do not place restrictions on capacity or anything else regarding cattle in transit. She must stop that from getting any worse or it will not pay farmers to export cattle.

As far as the middle men are concerned, whatever we do in this country, a substantial slice of the profits that is morally absolutely within the remit of Irish farmers is taken out of their hands. Unfortunately, the consumers do not give credit for that. It is possible to take a more streamlined approach and cut out the middle man much more than hitherto. There appears to be some blindfold on the Government regarding that side of things.

Another great battle that the Minister will have to fight for us — we will certainly help her — is to ensure that no restriction or reduction is imposed on area aid or the number of acres in the disadvantaged areas that qualify for the area-based payment. As the Minister is aware, this is on top of the single farm payment, and it will cripple poor farming areas if land is removed from that system.

I remember the extent of the BSE crisis some years ago. French farmers did something that we could not do — we should have done so, but we did not — they went in for big labelling when we were in trouble. They got the message across to the French consumer that there was nothing better than French lamb or beef. We will have to get very tough on labelling and at least ensure that the beef coming in from all over the world is produced to the same high standards as in Ireland. Ultimately, if one cannot prove something, one has to ensure that Irish housewives leave it. There is nothing wrong with our promoting that idea.

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