Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The rural economy needs to be central to any jobs stimulus programme. Agriculture remains the most important indigenous sector of our economy. It has the potential to play a central role in future growth. It contributes over €20 billion to our national income. It accounts for 10% of exports. Crucially, the sector is far less dependent on imported inputs although it depends to a certain extent on imported fuel, the cost of which is unpredictable.

If we are to ensure the future viability of farming, it is crucial that the current negotiations on the reform of the farm payment scheme have a positive outcome. The current single farm payment system is clearly unsustainable and moneys are unfairly distributed. Less than 2% of farmers receive payments of €50,000 or more. Some of these payments are made to businesses rather than to active farmers. Over 40% of farmers receive €5,000. I hope the outcome of the negotiations will see a decisive shift in favour of the majority of Irish farmers.

The crisis caused by the discovery of horsemeat in burgers has brought attention to the need for a fair trading scheme for suppliers. While the crisis has reflected badly on the overall food sector, farmers are as much the victims as anyone else. They have had to deal with processors that apply downward pressure on the prices they are paid. Questions need to be asked about why any processor would need to import beef, or what is supposed to be beef, into this country. If the food industry is to fulfil its potential, it needs to be properly regulated in terms of traceability and content.

My colleague, Deputy Stanley, spoke about beet sector. The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, is well acquainted with the beet sector in Mallow. He does not need to be reminded of the disgraceful behaviour of Fianna Fáil in government, with Mary Coughlan at the helm. Along with Greencore and the IFA leadership, it sold out a viable sector of the agriculture industry in questionable circumstances.

The loss to workers in the factories, as well as to the contractors and producers, is something we are still suffering today. My party supports the re-establishment of the sugar sector, which will include, as well as the production of sugar for food, the establishment of a bio-refinery plant to produce ethanol from beet. The estimated cost of the project is €350 million, with the potential to create up to 5,000 jobs.

In the broader economy, there needs to be a specific focus on the potential for enterprise and job creation in rural communities. To address the clear imbalance in job creation, regional and sub-regional job creation targets should be set out for Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and other enterprise support agencies. One of the reasons farmers are at a disadvantage with processors is the shift away from co-ops. The surrender of power to large agri-businesses needs to be reconsidered. There should be a proactive plan to establish co-ops and to aid job creation in rural communities, including the creation of tax incentives for co-ops that create employment in rural or disadvantaged areas. In addition, vacant premises belonging to Údarás na Gaeltachta, the IDA and other public bodies should be made available for co-op use.

One of the key barriers to the development of rural enterprise is the lack of high-speed broadband coverage. The ESB, Bord Gáis and Coillte could work together to roll out a comprehensive high-end broadband network. The ESB already owns 1,300 km of national fibre-optic network, Aurora Telecom is a Bord Gáis Enterprise company established in 2000 and operating specifically in fibre-optic network services, and Coillte has 220 mast sites and 100 new rural broadband sites.

We are obviously opposed to the sale of Coillte. Its resources should be used as part of a job creation programme and we should further develop its role in eco-tourism. With ten forest parks and over 150 recreation sites, Coillte is a leading provider of outdoor recreation in Ireland, with an estimated 18 million visits to lands under its management this year.

My own county of Kerry is an unemployment black spot, particularly the major town of Tralee. I listened aghast to Deputy Arthur Spring when he spoke about bringing two IDA visits to Kerry. It was a token appearance in the county which was brought about by pressure from my party, particularly our councillors and elected representatives, which tried to embarrass the IDA into doing something positive and constructive for our county. It has done nothing to bring any jobs into the county, not just this year or last year but over the past decade, during which time we hardly saw the IDA in the county. We need to decentralise the powers of the IDA to take into account the rural and disadvantaged areas of the west coast and the south west. It needs to be directed to go into those areas and to operate beyond a 50-mile radius of Dublin.

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