Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was not quite sure what to say in this debate because I believe the Minister does a good job. He is the best Minister in the Cabinet.

Those who proposed this motion would probably not have done as much as the Minister has done during this crisis. That is conjecture. I would like to refer briefly to this year before focusing on the lessons we might learn from this experience. We need to apply those lessons so we do not have the same problems next year.

Perhaps the Government should have foreseen the fodder crisis that the agricultural community is experiencing. According to Met Éireann, last year we had one of the wettest summers on record. This was compounded by poor weather in the spring of this year. Many farmers recognised towards the latter part of last year that this crisis was imminent. Tillage yields were significantly down because many farmers and agricultural contractors could not get into the fields to harvest their crops due to the wet surface conditions. There was little farmers could do at that stage other than ration what fodder they had and hope the Government intervened to help. It is disappointing that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine did not see this crisis coming as quickly as many farmers did.

The fodder crisis has had a real and terrifying effect on rural communities. I am sure many rural Deputies have heard the tragic stories of suicide that have spiked on farms across Ireland since the beginning of the fodder crisis. I understand it is so bad that officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine have received training from groups like Pieta House on how to identify the signs of the risk of suicide. I welcome this initiative.

See this speech in context