Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister may think that was more important, but this is a desperate crisis. I will not read the last two or three paragraphs of the response put on the record of the Dáil as an adequate response. Deputy Dara Calleary mentioned that the IFA came out the following day saying the response was grossly inadequate. At that stage co-ops were sourcing silage for farmers all over the country.

On 19 April the Minister decided to respond and there was massive publicity then with regard to what was going on and what was being done. That was the Minister's first acceptance of the fact that there was a fodder crisis in the country. In my part of the country we have been persecuted by the crisis. Last Thursday, I got a text message just after 8 a.m. telling me there was a headline in the Irish Farmers' Journal announcing that the fodder crisis was now nationwide. The text message read: "Breaking news in the Irish Farmers' Journal. There is a fodder crisis in the country."

Deputy Andrew Doyle mentioned 1986, when Hurricane Charlie hit this country. A former member of the IFA said at a rally in Dublin then that it was not until the trendy cottages on the Dodder were hit that there was a national crisis. In my part of the country the feeling is that right across the higher echelons of the agricultural movement - whether the media, the Department, the Minister or commentators - it was not until the second week of April, when the crisis hit the better farms, that these groups recognised the persecution the people of western Duhallow, the Cork-Kerry region, west Limerick and Clare had suffered since June 2012. The way those people have been treated for the past ten months is disgraceful. Day in and day out I have been speaking to them. They have cried on the phone to me, not just recently, but right through since last summer.

There is a huge crisis facing us in the second half of 2013 with regard to this issue. As late as today, fodder is being brought in to try to build up stock and provide solutions. However, this is happening for the best farms and farmers and those who have the best advice. Teagasc has been providing them with advice and they have got private advice. These are top-of-the-range farmers who know what to do. Farmers' problems were compounded by this crisis, but nobody listened.

They have received every advice and know what to do. However, when they were confronted with this crisis, nobody listened. Certain farming organisations have referred to a European fund. At least, people should have been informed about the crisis. Farmers' incomes have been wiped out. I refer, in particular, to those who depend solely on agriculture for an income. They do not have a second income. Their full income comes from agriculture. It will take them years to trade out of this crisis, even after what is likely to be a bumper year in relation to commodities. There is a serious crisis in the agriculture community. Someone commented in last week's edition of the Irish Farmers Journalthat morale in the farming community was at an all-time low. In my part of the country it has been at an all-time low for the past ten months. It is high time we stopped praising ourselves and started to deal with this crisis.

A couple of issues have been bandied about. It has been suggested the increase in fallen cattle numbers can be attributed to the fact that we have an increased herd. The number of cattle is 10% smaller now than it was in 1998-99, the last time we had a fodder crisis. There was a huge crisis at the time, but we were able to get through it because enough fodder was available on the island to distribute to farmers.

Previous speakers suggested there be an audit of the fodder available. I said last September that we should have such an audit. Rather than continuing with farm inspections, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine inspectors should have been going to farms to check how much silage they had available. It was clear to all concerned that there was a need for a proper audit. It would have served the European Community far better than any of the cross-compliance regulations. It would have served the agriculture community also. There is a dependence on the food industry here and elsewhere in Europe.

Those who are not farmers might suggest the fodder crisis has developed because farmers are completely over-stocked. I remind the House that the number of cattle is 10% smaller than it was 15 years ago. There should not have been a fodder crisis. Equally, the suggestion the crisis happened because too much land was tilled is not valid. Less ground is tilled now than some years ago. We should have had enough fodder and should have known what to do.

Everyone was wishing for an early spring. If spring had come by the first or second week of March, we would have known there was a crisis. It was not until 19 March that it was acknowledged that there was a crisis. The fodder importation scheme was announced on 23 April. A long time had passed since the last week of June 2012. If the Government thinks its response was adequate or swift, I am sorry.

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