Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I welcome the opportunity to support Deputy Boyle on this issue. I am surprised my constituency colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is not here because he is deeply involved in County Cavan, a major site for this industry. That is no slight to the Minister of State.

I asked the Taoiseach some months ago for an opportunity to discuss the crisis in the pig industry. Although he agreed it would happen, unfortunately the time allotted was reallocated to a debate on the Harvest 2020 report. Interestingly, one of the proposals in that report was for a 50% increase in pig output. Unless we retain the industry, however, this will not be possible.

The pig industry is worth €400 million, with €300 million in exports per year, providing 7,500 jobs for farmers, millers and processors. It cost €19 million per month to feed pigs in 2010 and this has since increased to €25 million per month for the same feed, creating massive cash flow problems. As the product price to the farmer has only increased by a small amount over that 12 months, there is a deficit of between €15 million and €20 million in the industry. Unless something is done to provide such capital, an industry that is so important and efficient could be lost, particularly in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan.

The retailers have a responsibility to stop cutting prices and return a decent price to the farmer. So far, the Government has completely failed to control the retailers. In the absence of such action, Enterprise Ireland must come up with short-term funding to ensure a sizeable section of the industry is not lost because of financial pressure. Meats such as beef and lamb have increased in price and there is no excuse for Bord Bia not running a promotion for the pork industry.

This is a crisis and when the dioxin crisis happened more than €800 million was found to save the industry. I suggest if the will exists, the necessary €20 million can be found and the means to distribute it is not beyond the expertise of the Department, Teagasc and Enterprise Ireland.

This is a crisis. A number of small farmers have already gone out of business in Cavan and Monaghan. The Farming Independent yesterday reported that one of the five largest farmers in the country has had to close down. This is not limited to one area, it is a national crisis and we must ensure the industry is maintained. This is only short-term. Before this, banks would lend the money but they do not have it at the moment.

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