Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit chun plé a dhéanamh linn ar an ábhar an-tábhachtach seo.

I join my colleagues opposite in highlighting the importance of and stressing the urgent need to deal with this matter. It is no exaggeration to describe what is happening as a crisis. Cattle are starving and farmers across west Cork are facing mounting fodder bills as a result of the exceptionally long winter. I am of the view that exceptional circumstances require exceptional responses. I call on the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to consider introducing a series of measures - I do not believe any one measure alone will solve the crisis - aimed at rescuing our most vital industry, namely, agriculture. The Minister is not to blame for the bad weather, which is a natural phenomenon with which farmers must deal. I have spoken to the staff of some of the local co-ops in west Cork and I have been informed that there has been a massive and, in many cases, unsustainable spike in the amount of credit being extended to farmers just so they might keep their cattle alive.

Despite the recent and welcome improvement in weather conditions, this crisis will run for some time yet, particularly when the full cost to farmers becomes apparent during the coming months. I believe in prescriptive as well as diagnostic politics. In that context, I wish to prescribe three solutions for the Minister's consideration. I ask the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, to communicate these directly the Minister, Deputy Coveney. The first of these solutions relates to the establishment of a hardship fund to be distributed by the co-ops. Farmers will testify that if it were not for the co-ops, they would not be able to survive. The latter have been extremely generous in the context of the credit arrangements they have extended. However, such arrangements are only serving to prevent farmers from going over the edge. The second solution I wish to put forward would involve the Cabinet instructing the banks to exercise more leniency with farmers who are struggling to make repayments. The third solution would involve the Minister - in light of the impact of this crisis - impressing on his colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, the need for the criteria relating to the farm assist scheme to be re-examined in order to make life bearable for farmers.

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