Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)

I congratulate the Minister and wish her well in her new portfolio. She has a difficult task ahead, particularly in Brussels with her negotiations on the beet sector and the nitrates directive. I also congratulate my colleague, Deputy Naughten, for bringing this motion before the House. If Deputy Naughten does as good a job in agriculture as he did in transport, Irish farmers will have a voice in the Oireachtas.

This motion has my full support. The issues of farming practices, labelling and consumer information are integral to the economic well-being and general health of the country. We all realise that farm payments, particularly the single farm payments, will have a dramatic effect on farming practices here. That point does not need to be emphasised.

We are also aware of the number of older farmers in the farming community. These people have been forgotten by the Minister and her Government as they pursue their socialist Inchydoney agenda. Family farms are the fabric of our society and are dependent for their viability and future on single farm payments. People must be treated fairly but they want transparent and equitable treatment.

Earlier I heard Deputy Callanan speak about the efficiency of the Department. That is odd because the Department of Agriculture and Food continues to have one of the highest rates of customer service complaints to the Office of the Ombudsman. I wonder where Deputy Callanan got his facts on that.

In 2004, the REPs budget was underspent by over €100 million. That should not happen again. Other areas were underspent also and I hope the Minister and her officials will use their budget this year to address the real concerns of farmers. Farmers deserve better treatment.

Last year I tabled a number of parliamentary questions in respect of force majeure applications in County Clare. More than 600 such applications were made but only 88 were successful. I am aware of a number of genuine cases where people who have suffered made applications at great expense, but failed. I refer, for example, to a widow who was obliged to set out her dairy herd during the three years in question and who did not qualify for force majeure payments.

There is another matter I would like the Minister to consider. I recently came across the case of a young farmer who was given land by his uncle. Due to the fact that his uncle was very old, there were few subsidies attached to what is a large area of land. The farmer in question did not qualify for any payments at all. He was obliged to seek other work to supplement his income. He then applied for the national reserve quota but because his income was just over €20,000, he does not qualify for payment. He would have been just as well off if there had been no subsidies or entitlements attaching to the land because he could have made a first-time application. I urge the Minister to consider the case of this man and the many others like him.

Farmers, as much as consumers, require a clear consumer focused quality food label. Farmers and consumers want origin and processor of all Irish food produce to be presented on labels. In addition to this, I call on the Minister to establish an explicit labelling system for the catering sector to ensure that consumers will have the highest degree of confidence possible in respect of all stages of the food chain.

Fine Gael believes these requirements in respect of food labelling are reasonable because they reflect the needs of consumers and the wishes of producers. We understand the link between consumer confidence, farm viability, product development and farm to fork product enhancement. I sincerely hope the Minister, for the good of all concerned, understands the issues we are discussing.

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