Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

His colleague made a minor concession on the spreading of slurry and fertiliser but, as a farmer pointed out to me earlier, it was not sufficient because the weather is variable and unless it is good this week - the forecast is not good in parts of the country - farmers will face an impossible task in spreading slurry. Nothing has been done to help the farmers who have lost everything either because they could not save their hay or silage this year or because it turned rotten. The minor measures taken by the Government are of no assistance to them in their plight.

As we know, uncertainty is one of the reasons for the lack of confidence in the future. I call on the Minister to state once and for all whether a suckler cow welfare scheme and a sheep grassland scheme will be in place next year. Dangling farmers like a puppet on a string is not good enough and will not be acceptable to the farming community.

Many farmers took time off from their busy lives to come to Dublin today because they are genuinely worried about their future under the CAP and about the Government's intentions in the forthcoming budget. At a time of increasing food demand around the world, it makes sense to continue to invest in agriculture, a sector in which Ireland has a natural advantage, in order to support farmers with a decent livelihood, encourage young farmers to take up farming and ensure the future of Irish agriculture based on good environmental practice and high production standards. There is no question that the Minister talks the talk but it appears from everything I have seen since becoming spokesperson on agriculture that he does not walk the walk. Our fruit, vegetable and potato producers are under severe pressure from the supermarkets. Our milk suppliers are under pressure from the same source but this did not become a matter of public concern for the Minister until I raised it publicly over the summer.

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