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

I welcome the motion and concur with its main proposals. I also propose that other measures be put in place, both to address the current crisis and to address any possible recurrence. That can not be ruled out given the weather conditions we have experienced over the past two years and the possibility of further bad weather later this year.

No one expects the Department, any more than farmers themselves, to be clairvoyants when it comes to predicting future weather patterns. However, the likelihood of severe conditions, even in late spring and summer, must be planned for, given what we have seen over the past few years. No other sector of the economy, apart perhaps from the fishing sector, is as much at the mercy of the weather as the farming sector. While we are experiencing a change in the weather currently, which will, hopefully, ensure the crisis will not get any worse, we are still a long way from seeing an end to it. Many farmers are still struggling to cope with the demands placed on them and the financial implications will carry on into the future, with potentially severe implications for many farm households.

One of the most worrying factors of this crisis is that farmers will be short at least one cut of silage this year. I have travelled the country and have seen very little silage cut so far. If farmers get two cuts between now and September, they will be doing well. I am concerned, therefore, that farmers will face the same crisis next year because of the lack of the extra cut of silage this year.

The financial implication of the crisis for farmers has not been helped by the attitude of the financial institutions. Some of the institutions are expressing little gratitude for the fact that the ordinary people of this State have saved them, at the expense of an austerity programme which has hit a huge number of people, including the majority of small to medium farm families. Deputy McLellan has informed me that a farmer who came to her office had applied for a loan of €5,000 to get him over the crisis. However, he was only given one month to repay the loan. That is disgraceful behaviour from institutions the people have bailed out. It is disgraceful they act like this towards people who are so dependent on them to provide loans so as to provide fodder for their animals.

The reluctance and refusal of banks to extend lines of credit has prevented many farmers from addressing the shortage of feedstuffs. The same applies to co-ops, which for the greater part ignored the appeal of the Minister to extend credit to farmers in urgent need of supplies. This indicates a lack of responsibility to the sector as a whole and a lack of responsiveness to the opinions of the wider community upon which they depend. This does not apply to all co-ops and some have been extremely helpful to farmers in need of fodder and have extended credit lines. When the Minister addressed the joint committee last Thursday week, I was of the impression there would be a three-month payment freeze on co-op credit, but that does not appear to be the case. A small minority of co-ops have attempted to take advantage of the crisis by charging increased prices. In general, however, most commercial enterprises within the sector have behaved responsibly.

Farmers have been massively impacted by the fodder shortage and it has placed enormous pressure on many of them due to the financial burden and the perceived threat to many family farms. That aspect of the crisis will be harder to deal with than the immediate problem of accessing feedstuffs. Watching animals starve to death, as many have done, is an extremely traumatic experience, apart altogether from the impact that has on farm businesses. In some parts of the country, collections of dead animals have increased by up to 40%, and the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Marine has confirmed that deaths of cattle aged 48 months and over were up by 60% between January and February of this year compared with January and February of 2012.

Apart from the pressure of maintaining farm operations, the crisis has placed considerable personal pressure on farmers and their families. One of the saddest aspects of the crisis has been the increase in farmers who have considered taking their own lives. In my county, the farm and rural stress line operated by Console in Tralee has reported a significant increase in the number of farmers contacting it in regard to personal pressures. Some of those farmers impacted by the fodder crisis were obviously under such extreme pressure, they could see no way out of the situation. Many of those farmers are single and live in isolated rural areas. The pressure of loneliness and isolation added to the pressure of trying to feed animals has driven some of them almost over the limit.

The crisis has, however, brought out some of the better aspects of rural communities, which have generally been supportive of their neighbours who have been worst affected. I commend the farming organisations which acted swiftly to bring in feed for their members. Communities from all areas of the country have offered support. Some north of the Border have brought foodstuffs to farmers in trouble, as they did a number of years ago when there was a crisis west of the Shannon. The solidarity within rural communities and farm workers is great, but there are also people who exploited the situation.

On the other hand, there is a feeling the Department's response has been inadequate. Although the Minister's announcement in regard to imports, which he claimed reduced costs by approximately one third, was welcomed, some would feel more could be done. The ICMSA suggested the Government might apply to the EU solidarity fund for emergency funding to address the crisis. Given that the crisis is estimated to be the worst to impact on Irish farming in half a century, surely there would be a good case and this would not impact on the domestic budget, if that is a chief consideration. I look forward to the Minister's response to that.

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