Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)

There is not too much marginal land where Deputy Tom Hayes comes from. Deputy Breen, who is sitting beside him, will be able to tell him about the difficultly farmers face in County Clare.

I would not be in this House were it not for the support I receive from farmers and their families throughout County Clare. I respect my mandate and will work with other Deputies on behalf of farmers. We will continue to do so, despite the current economic environment. However, I would not be doing much of a service to those who elected me if I were not honest with them about the cuts. I have worked hard on behalf of farmers for the six and a half years in which I have had the privilege to be a Member, both in the Dáil and Seanad. I have worked with my colleagues in the parliamentary party and in the farmers' representative bodies. We have worked well collectively over the years to ensure that, when possible, farming was given the support it rightly deserved. The farming organisations should not make apologies to anybody for the approach they have taken. They have worked well on behalf of those they represent. The chief executive of one such organisation is retiring. There might be a job for him representing Deputies given that he did such a good job for farmers when in office. We wish him well.

I accept that the cuts will have a very significant impact on farm families if made in conjunction with the other cuts announced in the budget, be they in respect of school transport, college registration or the 1% income levy. The reality is that our economy is in a perilous state, as are economies throughout the world. It is important that we take cognisance of that and that the Government deals with it as best it can. There are no easy answers and we are borrowing to fund current expenditure. The projection for next year, just to meet current spending, is in the region of €4.8 billion. There has been a 13% decrease in the tax take this year alone. It is not sustainable to continue borrowing at the current level. It will place further pressure on the capacity of the State to deliver services for farming families and their offspring in the years ahead. Farmers will recognise and accept the importance of stabilising the economy. One does not have to be an eminent economist to know or figure out that if one's books do not balance, one must first look to one's spending to try to achieve stability. It is with a somewhat heavy heart that we must ask farmers at this very difficult time to assist us in addressing the economic crisis.

The sad reality is that the contributions of the Fine Gael Members in this debate have demonstrated, once again, their fiscal hypocrisy. They have demonstrated this consistently, week in, week out, since the budget. They demonstrate in the House on the issue of the day and bring their band of supporters. They put forward no suggestions. They showed the farmers what they thought of them when a better media opportunity arose in respect of the cervical cancer vaccine.

See this speech in context