John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is opportune that we are having a discussion on the beef industry this week. As Deputy Seán Kyne said, Ireland has a great system of beef production and a great product to sell, but there is no doubt that people involved in the industry are under severe pressure to say the least. I am referring to people who are not normally looking at the glass half empty. They are under severe pressure and considering leaving the sector. For that reason, the discussion is important. The Minister is doing good work to open markets, but I often wonder if enough is being done to follow up on the opening of these markets to ensure we are selling product into them. While it is welcome that the Minister is in the United States of America this week, it is no use opening a market unless we sell something into it.

Like previous speakers, I refer to the moving of the goalposts by factories in respect of the quality payment scheme agreed in 2009. A great deal of work was done at the time between the farm organisations, the factories and Teagasc. We must look at moving back towards the agreement, in which regard the Minister and his Department must be proactive.

On Northern Ireland, there is a political solution that can surely be reached at a time of tremendous co-operation between the North and theSouth. Cattle born on this side of the Border end up on the other side and we should be able to have a new arrangement reached in that regard. It should not be beyond the bounds of possibility.

There have been significant increases, particularly this year, in the level of live exports, with 20,000 more animals exported to date in 2014 than by this time last year. Certainly, there is significant room for a further increase. If necessary, we should look at the regulations which apply. The Minister of State might correct me if I am wrong, but in Ireland we seem to have a stricter application of some EU regulations to live exports than other member states. Obviously, as an island country which produces six times more beef than it needs, we must have a floor in the market.

In respect of the current system pertaining with the factories, many speakers have referred to the need for real competition. Real competition can only be provided if there is something competing with the factories. We have not exploited this to its full potential.

The dry stock sector is at a crossroads. There has been a massive increase in costs, the loss of certain schemes and a depletion in the quality of the herd in which we have invested so much in the past few years, particularly in the suckler cow sector. Unless we do something radical, people will leave. On Friday I met a man optimistic about the future of agriculture. He took up farming at ten years of age on the death of his father. He is a winter beef finisher and talking about leaving. It accounts for most of his business. When people like him are talking about leaving the beef sector, something radical must be done. I urge the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, and the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, to do it.

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