Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It has been recommended, and I believe it would be a worthwhile step. As Deputy Connaughton pointed out earlier, there has traditionally been significant conflict between farmers and the factories. There has also been significant single ownership of many factories, which only enhances this conflict. There is a need for assurance to farmers that they are getting a fair price and that different factories are not reducing or increasing prices at the same time.

Along with ensuring monitoring of prices and that farmers are getting a fair crack of the final price, it is crucial there is competition through live exports. We could do with putting emphasis on ensuring export avenues are open and that difficulties are not placed in the way of this safety valve, so that farmers who fail to sell to the factories have an alternative available. More export opportunities would also provide competition for the factories and ensure competition in regard to the prices being offered by them.

I mentioned earlier the impact of the crisis on farm incomes, which is nowhere more pronounced than among what bull beef producers, in particular, have experienced this past year. It went from a situation where farmers were encouraged and advised to produce more bull beef, but once they had their sheds filled they found the goalposts had been changed, with specifications and grading requirements changed. This has resulted in a situation where many of them have found themselves losing from €200 to €300 per animal when it comes to selling it on the factory floor.

When we look at what has happened with farm incomes over the past three years, we can clearly see the difficulty farm families are experiencing. For example, on cattle rearing farms, the average income in 2011 was €19,183. This dropped to €17,800 in 2012 and to €15,595 in 2013. This is a continuous drop over the past three years. In the sheep sector, average income was €19,000 in 2011. This dropped to €18,200 in 2012 and to €11,160 this past year. Again, we see a definite trend of decreasing farm incomes. The overall average farm income is given a healthier reflection due to the fact that dairy farms tend to have better incomes, which raises the overall average.

If we look at the case of suckler farms, the income on the average suckler farm last year was just under €10,000. However, figures show that the average single farm payment to cattle rearing farms was €15,000. Therefore, the average suckler farm was eating into its single farm payment to the tune of €5,000 - or one third of its single farm payment - in order to produce young cattle. It has been the ongoing situation for a number of years that average farm income on suckler farms has been less than what the single farm payment would be. This situation cannot continue. Any Deputy with links with the farming community will know that at markets and marts across the country, the number of cows being culled and removed from production is increasing all the time. Even young farmers who would have invested significantly in recent years are questioning their future in farming. In many cases, they would get out of farming if there was alternative employment available.

This brings me to the farm assist payment. This is an issue I have raised with the Minister for Social Protection on a number of occasions. Since the Government has come to power, it has made changes to the system, so that instead of 70% of a farmer's annual income being assessed towards farm assist, the full 100% is now assessed. The farm assist payment brings the farm income up to the level of what a farmer would receive on unemployment benefit or on the dole. Now, what happens is that every penny a farmer earns on the farm comes off their farm assist payment. Anybody in any other employment area who finds himself on the dole only wants to remain on it for a short period, until he finds alternative employment. It is not meant to be a baseline where somebody will sit for a long time. However, this is now what is expected of the farming community. Farmers are expected to accept a farm assist payment which is at the same level as the dole, but also to accept a situation where they must work 40 to 50 hours a week in order to achieve that payment. That is unfair and does not acknowledge in any way what those farm families contribute to the local community through living in it and through the revenue and turnover farms generate.

This position is unsustainable. It sends a clear message to farmers that in the same way as people not from the farming community who are out of work and on the dole are encouraged to take up employment when it becomes available, they should do the same. People on smaller and medium sized family farms who are availing of farm assist are being given the message that they should give up on farming and find alternative employment, because they are given no reward whatsoever for their daily enterprise.

The other issue I wish to raise is the new GLAS scheme, the replacement for the AEOS and REPS, and the difficulty the proposed regulations will cause for commonage farmers. A minimum of 50% of all farmers with access to commonage are being required to sign up at the one in order for any one of them to be eligible. Last week, based on a reply to a parliamentary question asked by Deputy Ó Cuív, I pointed out that previous experience of AEOS and REPS indicated that 24% of farms with commonage rights would have signed up to the previous REPS or environmental schemes. Therefore, it is no way realistic to expect a minimum of 50% to sign up now. The Minister needs to reverse his plans in this regard or we will have a further significant proportion of lower income farms affected by the proposal.

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