Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this issue. That they come from different parties and none reflects the fact that this problem has nothing to do with party politics. This is a genuine crisis that has hit many farms, depending on the part of the country affected, the soil depth and weather, particularly in the past two weeks. This is a problem that we need to solve collectively.

My Department is at the heart of that process, working with co-ops, Teagasc, private advisers, farm organisations and farmers. On 24 April we introduced a transport subsidy to try to encourage those who had the logistical know-how to bring in large volumes of hay from the United Kingdom and make it available to farmers at a normal price. We covered the cost of the transport. We have twice extended the deadline for the scheme and doubled the fund available. It may well be the case that we will have spent more than €2 million on the scheme by the time it is closed. So far, we have a total of 2,158 loads committed, 419 of which have yet to be delivered. That is over 40,000 tonnes of fodder, enough to feed approximately 5 million to 6 million animals.

What has happened in the past three to four weeks has been logistically an extraordinary effort to bring in very large volumes of feed from the United Kingdom and France and now the Netherlands. Deputy Denis Naughten has raised the issue of bringing in a ship. Dairygold is considering bringing in a ship from the Netherlands next week to bring in enough volume and then take it to whatever part of the country most needs it. This is not a matter of providing more for the south, the west or the midlands. We need to get it to whatever area needs it. Everybody needs to work together and is doing so to try to assist in that process with transport. The head of the Irish Road Haulage Association has been very helpful in co-ordinating the effort to bring in fleets of trucks with fodder.

It is extraordinary that Ireland is importing grass but that is the situation. We will continue to do that as long as is necessary. We are ending the fodder scheme officially this Friday but we are allowing until next Friday for importation. The reason I am doing this is that I do not want to keep extending the scheme through the summer, leading to a drip-feed of fodder week after week. I want to put the pressure and the onus on marts, co-ops and others importing hay, and other forms of fodder like maize, to bring in as much as they can over the next ten days to kill this issue once and for all. This will allow farmers get fodder into storage, as well as dealing with emergency access to fodder, so they can concentrate on grazing and managing silage cuts throughout the summer.

Certain wet parts of the country are four to six weeks behind in grass production. In other parts of the country, it is just two to three weeks. Much silage is being cut this week in some parts while none in others, as Deputy Martin Ferris pointed out.

There is no reason any animal in the country should starve. If a farmer is in the extreme situation where he cannot feed his animals for whatever reason, be it he cannot access or afford fodder, he should contact my Department and we will feed the animals. We have had over 800 calls in the past several weeks, of which 300 were significant welfare cases in which we intervened. So far, we have spent over €130,000 actually getting hay into farmyards to feed animals. We will continue to do that as is necessary and there is no ceiling to that fund as it is an animal welfare issue. We will work on a confidential basis with farmers to help them get over this period. This is not linked to inspections or enforcements. It is a purely animal welfare helpline.

This year we will have to extend the grazing and grass-growing season, if the weather allows. With this in mind, I, along with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, earlier announced a temporary and targeted adjustment to two provisions of the nitrates regulations to support additional fodder production on farms in the coming months. Essentially, we will extend the period for the spreading of chemical fertilisers to the end of September rather than the middle of the month. It also deals with the phosphorous issue which is now a problem as many farmers have fed their animals with more concentrates than normally which has knock-on consequences for the nitrates directive and action plan. Teagasc is in overdrive to advise farmers and help them put new fodder management plans in place to which Deputy Naughten referred. This will continue throughout the summer.

We will also put in place a strategic advisory expert group which will remain in place right through next winter. It will be assessing the audits that we have to do on the availability of fodder and other strategic measures that need to be taken to ensure we can feed animals through next winter. There is much preparation under way for the medium to long-term problem with fodder supply. It is not all about the crisis, although ensuring all animals are fed is what is most important.

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