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

I read in the Irish Farmers’ Journallast week that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney is "acutely aware" of the problems facing the Irish beef sector. Great words but to be honest, there are lots of people in this society who are fed up hearing members of the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition telling us that they are acutely aware of our plight. Acutely aware does not cut it, when what we need is action. There are times when the Ministers on the benches opposite are nearly telling us that it is hurting them more than it is hurting us, that this situation is hurting them more than it is hurting the farming community. Well, that will not wash with Irish farmers anymore and it will not wash with beef farmers in particular. Twice last week we had farmers at the door of Leinster House, protesting. They were angry and to be honest, I am angry on their behalf. In my life time I have never seen two mobilisations by the IFA in one week and that in itself tells all of us that there is a crisis in the beef sector which needs to be sorted out.

The big retail multiples are reducing their prices while their own profit margins are growing at the expense of farmers. Figures show that in 2013 the farmer received 57% of the average price of beef on the British retail market. The retail price per kilo has risen by 7% but the farmers’ share has dropped to 42% and that is some whack to take. I repeat - the farm-gate price for Irish cattle has fallen by 15% while the price of beef on the shelves of British supermarkets has gone up by 7%. Beef farmers have lost income to the extent that they are in crisis. They have also lost confidence in the Minister who on "Morning Ireland" last week publicly washed his hands of the crisis and said on air that it was all down to the market and he could do nothing about it. He blamed the situation on the market.

We know that this Government looks to the rich and powerful and ignores the plight of the more vulnerable, but this one takes the biscuit. Is Simon Coveney so divorced from the reality of beef farmers lives’ that he does not know what is happening in the industry? In response to this crisis he set up a talking shop, called a "round table", where the beef factories’ representatives can talk to each other and tell us that we are all doing fine. I want to see the beef barons before the Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. We discussed this matter this week and members want to see them brought before the committee. I want to see the powerful individuals who control this industry and not their press and publicity executives, their public relations men or their image consultants. I want to see the beef barons themselves, individually, come before our committee to account for their actions. This industry is too important for the Government to take a back seat and let these people ruin it and ruin the livelihoods of beef farmers and their families.

The farmers who were encouraged by Teagasc to rear bull beef but who now find that the prices have collapsed and their sheds are full of cattle they cannot not sell are not impressed. The Minister has sat on his hands and allowed the beef barons to call the shots and to manipulate the market to the extent that some farmers have been pushed over the edge.

There is an individual out there, a beef baron who is known to everyone in this House - whose name comes up decade after decade, not just year after year - who plays a leading role in the beef industry in this State and who, it seems, is allowed to do what he likes to manipulate the market and he continues to do so. He is allowed to own and control a large herd of cattle and at his whim, he can flood the market and collapse prices, which he does. He is not alone in this but has allies scattered around the country. When he wants to, he calls the shots and brings the prices down. When farmers present to his factories with cattle, they are offered a price that is 5% below what they expect so they take the decision not to send their cattle in. Then the beef baron lifts the phone and his people all over the country make sure that he has a supply of cattle, making it almost impossible for the farmer who must sell his cattle to meet his overheads, repayments and so forth not to accept that man's price and the price set by others who control this industry. Nothing is being done about it. This has continued, year in, year out. When the beef barons want to, they can manipulate the market to collapse the prices. Last week, there were demonstrations going on outside by members of the IFA. What happened this week? The price was cut by another five cent. This is what they can do. They are an all-powerful cartel and their representatives are sitting in on the round table discussions. Their representatives appeared before the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine and stonewalled for the duration of the meeting. They are getting away with murder because they are being allowed to get away with it. Any Minister worth his salt would move to control this kind of behaviour, but this Government looks after the likes of him and the small man can go to hell or to the wall.

The factories have abused their power and continue to do so. They have changed specifications at will and have driven down prices by penalising farmers who are struggling to put bread on the table. Farmers are tempted to abandon cattle at marts at the moment because the prices being offered are so low. They are not making ends meet and are producing at a loss. The reason they are producing at a loss is that the beef barons are manipulating the market to suit their agenda and continue to do so.

I said in this Chamber last week that many farmers suspect that the beef barons run the industry by this kind of manipulation and by having access, crucially, to the AIMS database. I know that the Minister denies this. Last week the Minister of State, Deputy Hayes was here when I said it and the Minister was not here. He did not turn up to answer questions, but sent along the new Minister of State to answer questions about data management and transparency within the beef industry. In fairness to Deputy Hayes, he did his best to answer the questions. He was in an unenviable position, trying to deny something that everyone knows is true; that they have access to the AIMS database.

See this speech in context