Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I met a young farmer last week who showed me his milk returns for last month from his 40-cow herd. He was paid just over 19 cent a litre. This well educated and sensible young man literally had tears in his eyes, tears of frustration and anger. He proceeded to tell me how the cheque, the biggest he will receive this year, simply will not cover fertiliser and feed bills accrued during the months of April and May of this year which witnessed the worst weather conditions for 50 years. If the Minister of State is not aware of this situation then it is a case of shame on him. No one could produce milk at 19 cent per litre and one can imagine the problems farmers have in the wetland areas in which land has not been grazed for more than 12 months, simply because of waterlogging. We are witnessing the wind-down of the one of the most noble farming enterprises and if urgent action is not taken by the EU Commission and the Government, another sugar beet debacle will be on our hands.

There is no respect for primary producers of food in the country. In the case of milk, the farmer gets one third of the price of a bottle, the processor gets one third and the supermarket gets the final third. Who is walked upon in this case? Who puts in seven days a week, takes all the risks and who comes out the worst? I need not tell the Minister of State it is the farmer.

I put on record that the EU Commission must smarten up. More and greater volumes of milk product must be allowed into EU intervention and more funding to aid private storage schemes must be made available at rates that will keep dairy farmers afloat until world prices creep upwards. Matters within the control of Ireland must be re-examined also. The budget in October of last year will cripple farmers next October. Let us consider the savage cuts coming down the line. These include €1,000 off the top rate of the area base payment, which affects those in the wetland areas throughout Ireland, a reduction of 50% in the cow welfare scheme from €80 to €40, and a reduction of more than 2% in modulation in so far as the single farm payment is concerned. Let us consider the reduction in the REP 4 scheme from a maximum of €10,000 to €8,000. When these are added up an ordinary, average farmer in the country stands to lose €6,000 directly from his or her pocket next October or November and this bears no relationship to what such farmers earn.

During the last election there was a good deal of talk, rightly, of levies because they affected everyone. However, this levy works out at approximately 30% on the normal income that most average farmers will earn this year. Unless the Government takes action and reverses some of these cuts, which are entirely within its remit, there will be a catastrophe in the farming community of the country before the year is through. I realise many will say this is a case of the farmers crying foul again, but that is not the case this time. Every enterprise is under great attack.

The members of the Government should get up on their bicycles and go after the European Commission. I recognise the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food was in Luxembourg recently but it seems he has no clout and the process is going nowhere at present. If the Minister of State were a dairy farmer milking his cows seven days a week he would realise the severity of the situation. My background is farming and this is the first time in my memory that I have ever seen a situation in which for every marginal gallon of milk produced one is losing money. The price is below the cost of production.

Let us consider the case of a person highly geared, who cannot get grants from the Department, although such grants were guaranteed. If one puts all the pieces together it amounts to a very significant problem in the farming community. On behalf of every farmer in Ireland I call on the Minister of State to put his shoulder to the wheel and do something positive to try to get the whole industry on a better footing before it is too late.

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