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

I move:

"That Dáil Éireann:calls on the Government to make adequate financial supports available to assist those who cannot afford to feed their stock and also to transport fodder to this country from abroad;

fully recognises the major role agriculture plays in creating employment, generating economic activity and acting as a custodian of the countryside in Ireland;

appreciates the unique vulnerability and exposure of agriculture to fluctuations in the weather and food markets;

records the ongoing hardship inflicted upon farming communities across Ireland due to the fodder crisis that has been evident in the country since last July and the sacrifices farming families have made to protect their livestock;

acknowledges the devastating consequences that the aftermath of the fodder crisis will have on countless farms and the pressing need for the Government to put in place a structure to address their exceptional circumstances;

criticises the complete and utter failure of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to address the growing crisis in its early stages in 2012, which has directly led to the devastating impact it is currently having on farming families;

calls on the Government to establish a special unit in the Department to oversee and co-ordinate efforts amongst Government Departments, agencies, co-ops, marts and financial institutions to tackle the crisis and its long-term consequences;

further calls on the Government to empower this special unit to keep fodder and credit supplies under review with fail-safe measures to ensure that such a crisis does not emerge again; and

exhorts the financial institutions and the Department to reach a sustained agreement to ensure an adequate supply of credit to farmers during times of acute supply and market pressures."

With the permission of the Chair, I wish to share time with Deputies Kirk, Dooley, Cowen and Brown.

Ba mhaith liom an rún seo a mholadh, rún atá thar a bheith tábhachtach mar go bhfuil géarchéim feirmeoireachta sa tír. Is géarchéim í seo a mhairfeas go ceann tamaill, mar tá an éigeandáil seo tar éis cur as do fheirmeoirí ar go leor bealaí éagsúla.

On 28 March, I raised this as an issue on behalf of Fianna Fáil on Leaders' Questions. In reply, all the Tánaiste could offer at the time was that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, had "written to the banks to highlight the extreme challenges facing farmers", asked Teagasc to give "specific weather-related advice", and asked farmers to share surplus fodder amongst each other. All of those are worthy, but it did not in any way tackle the crisis.

When I pursued the Government, asking, "Does the Tánaiste believe that advice will feed the cattle?", and when I outlined the importance of the issue of affordability and availability of feed to the Tánaiste, the reply I received was, "Deputy Ó Cuív's difficulty with the issue of feed for livestock is that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, is already ahead of him and has already responded to the matter." The Minister's response was - nothing - to tell the banks to give more credit to farmers who have extended their credit to its limit and tell farmers get advice as to where one would get non-existent fodder.

The Tánaiste further stated, "The IFA has also called on farmers to "take stock of what fodder they have at this stage, and if they have some surplus, they should make it available to their fellow farmers who are in short supply", and "That is the position the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has taken." It was weeks after that before the Minister, Deputy Coveney, realised that there was not enough fodder in the country and that something urgent needed to be done.

I welcome the belated attempts he has made to deal with this issue. It is a serious issue that has significant consequences for farmers in their daily lives. There are farmers who have been driven literally to desperation, one of whom I know in the Deputy's own county-----

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