Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the members of the Technical Group for allocating some of their speaking time to me. I compliment Deputy Ó Cuív and the Fianna Fáil Party on bringing forward this excellent motion.

My closest personal friend of many years, Mr. Bernard Collins, who has worked in the Tralee mart for over 35 years, has been warning me for some time about what is happening in the beef sector. We all know that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is for the road, and more luck to him. He is going to be promoted, or whatever one wishes to call it, and I wish him good luck. For the time being, however, he cannot take his eye off the ball and he must concentrate on the job at hand. Round-table talks my eye. Such talks will get farmers and beef producers nowhere. Independent regulation designed to create fairness in the context of the prices the factories are offering is not only necessary, it is vital.

I compliment Deputy Martin Ferris on his excellent contribution. He referred to cartels and the fact that beef producers have been ground into the earth. The Minister of State and I are great friends. I wish him every success. He is a sensible, practical man and he is aware that it costs €700 to €800 to keep a cow for 12 months. If it costs that much to keep a cow and if one takes into account the prices the factories are paying for beef at present, then it is obvious that one cannot make money producing beef. What is happening in this country is a disgrace. We had tribunals and investigations in the past, but I am of the view that what is taking place now is criminal. The Minister of State is a sincere individual and I wish to ask him a straight question. What young man or woman would want to take up farming at present? If farmers in Tipperary, Meath and Kildare are giving up and getting out, then what will happen to the farmers in the Black Valley, Glencar and other areas which I represent? Carrying on just does not make financial sense for some people.

I apologise for not being present for the Minister of State's contribution. However, I listened to every word he said on the monitor in my office. I am obliged to inform him that he sold himself short when he asked those who brought forward the motion whether they wanted him to intervene in respect of prices, etc. There are two individuals with responsibility for agriculture in this country and the Minister of State is one of them. Both he and the senior Minister are extremely influential and - I say this in a very respectful way - they should throw their weight around. They should put it up to the people who are organising the cartels and who are flying around in helicopters while beef producers are struggling to fill their jeeps with diesel. What is happening just does not make sense; it is neither fair nor right.

I appreciate the fact that the Minister of State is a fair-minded man. He must realise that if the senior Minister is falling asleep at the wheel, it is not our job to throw him out of the car. It is our job to wake him up, however, and that is what Deputy Ó Cuív and Fianna Fáil are doing this evening. They are right to do it. The grid should be the grid and if it applies when cattle prices are good, it should also apply when they are bad. The chairman of the Kerry branch of the IFA, Mr. Sean Brosnan, is an excellent organiser and mobiliser of farmers. He and I are acutely aware of what is happening in our country and throughout the remainder of the country at present. Everyone involved in beef production is losing money. There is just no money to be made in rearing and fattening calves and then selling them on to the factories. The sums do not add up.

What are the Minister and the Minister of State doing, for God's sake? They should forget about these round-table negotiations, because those who attend are only going to talk rubbish. The targets for 2020 are rubbish and will not be met. It is impossible for such targets to be met when beef producers are literally being killed off. If producers cannot make money, the entire enterprise is going to grind to a halt. The Minister of State knows that I am saying all of this in the most genuine and sincere way. I hope I am talking on behalf of the farmers of Ireland who are producing beef, who are losing money and who are working damn hard. They work all hours of the day and night and they and their families are operating under pressure. They are trying to better themselves and they are just trying to keep going. However, they are not making any money at a time when certain fellows are flying around in helicopters and peeing down on top of them.

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