Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It was not. It is a beating for Irish agriculture that the Government has accepted, a beating not strongly fought against by the Government. Its ultimate effect now depends on the conclusion of CAP reform. Will that CAP reform amount to a cut in single farm payments for all, or will opportunities be taken to ensure that input towards the 2020 targets can be more inclusive of all farm enterprises, big and small? That responsibility passes to the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and will be carefully monitored. We hope and expect a better defence than that given by the Minister's superiors in relation to the overall budget for Europe.

Some weeks ago Deputy Martin raised with the Taoiseach the lack of a cohesive, inclusive and concerted effort by Government to establish a special departmental unit to co-ordinate stakeholders, financial institutions and agencies in response to the crisis. He also asked that a fund be put in place and that financial credit supplies be reviewed. The Taoiseach's response amounted to "Phone a friend". We do not need to repeat the advances that have been made in this country by the agricultural sector over the past number of years, leaving us with a sector which we are all proud to acknowledge is a world leader in many facets of its field.

The Government's resolve in the area of agriculture has been tested twice recently. It can be argued that it failed in the European budget and failed to respond adequately to this crisis over the past number of weeks. The Minister will be aware that farmers have been phoning friends, financial institutions and suppliers but have not been able to avail to any great extent of what was promised. Having raised this issue six to eight weeks ago, Deputy Ó Cuív was forced to table this Private Members' motion to call again on the Government, in the interests of proper planning, to act not only in the interests of the economy at large but obviously in the interests of the agricultural sector and those farmers whose livelihoods have been decimated in recent months and weeks as a result of the lack of planning, despite Government knowing full well about the poor harvest achieved last year owing to the weather and lack of production of hay, silage and so forth. The problem was greatly increased by the continuation of the cold weather into April.

I ask the Minister not to ignore the motion, to adhere to facets of it that can improve matters into the future and no doubt leave him in a position where by next year he will not be allowed to repeat the mistakes already witnessed by us all in this House.

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