Séamus Kirk (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak in favour of this important motion. Colleagues have highlighted the broad range of areas affected by the changes brought forward in the budget, including means testing for the farm assist scheme, reductions in disadvantaged area payments, closures of rural Garda stations, increases in school transport charges, an increase in the pupil-teacher ratio, the abolition of the local improvement schemes for rural roads, and changes in funding for community employment schemes. In the case of the dreaded septic tank regime, the fear is not the inspection charge itself but the costs that may subsequently arise for householders. In County Cavan, for example, it is estimated that there is a malfunction in 25% of domestic septic tanks, requiring remedial work at an average cost of some €2,500 per owner. That is the type of charge facing many households in rural areas, including farmers, elderly pensioners and so on. It will impose severe stress on people.

I listened to two Deputies from County Cork speaking before the Minister, Deputy Howlin, came into the Chamber. It was enough to make me think that we should implore Paddy Sheehan, "All is forgiven, Paddy, please come back". These two speakers derided Members on this side of the House for their lack of knowledge of rural issues and the agricultural industry. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, is a decent, hard-working man from the same county as those Members. We on this side of the House have been lobbying for some time for a review of the milk quota regime, including the transitional arrangements up to 2015. We must examine whether changes can be effected that will improve the prospects of the rural economy in a tangible way.

When my colleague, Deputy Brendan Smith, was Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, he brought forward an important initiative. The Food Harvest 2020 initiative envisaged a 50% increase in milk production in Ireland yet we have the outrageous situation that on the island of Ireland with a total population of approximately 5 million, individual farmers in the Republic, in the province of Leinster in particular, and in particular in County Meath, which the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, represents, will be severely affected by super levy bills come early April 2012.

The Department and the Ministers should ask the EU authorities for a bilateral arrangement with the UK to ensure that at least we could utilise the unused quota north of the Border and which would go a long distance to dealing with the serious problems confronting many farmers in the country, those who are planning to expand their production and their output to benefit in a real and tangible way, not alone the local economy but also the export statistics which are sorely needed in order to turn this economy around. There has been a pathetic effort made to try to push forward that agenda-----

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