Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the crisis in the beef industry and commend my colleague, Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív, on putting forward the motion and on the work he has done in the agriculture sector over the past while. I commend him also on the challenges he has made in the sector with stakeholders in regard to funding and so forth.

A number of speakers have suggested that the motion is opportunist but the stark reality is that there is a crisis in the farming community and if we cannot reflect the concerns of farmers on the floor of Dáil Éireann, we have no business being in here.

I wish to deal with a number of issues, the substantive one being the price that farmers are getting for beef at the moment. In recent years there was a huge push on farmers and finishers to go into bull beef. The argument was that this was what the market wanted and that farmers should get big animals to the factories. All of a sudden, however, almost overnight, the factories pulled the price and said they were no longer interested in this type of cattle but wanted the smaller animals. I have a big issue with that because it did not happen overnight.

We must have a fundamental look at the advice given at farm gate level. Farmers are the most adaptable group of people in the entire country. They have constantly reinvented themselves in terms of changing farm practices to ensure a viable income for themselves and their families. I have met farmers in my constituency clinic who have shown me the difference in the price they got for cattle in December and the price they got in February or March for similar cattle. That must be looked at.

In the past three or four years, much discussion has centred on emerging and new markets, the targets to be met under Food Harvest 2020 and so on. The focus has been on getting into the emerging markets but we have never really examined what products are needed for those markets. We have developed the dairy products that are needed over many years through companies like Kerrygold and so forth. It is high time we made sure that we are producing a beef product that the markets want because farmers will adapt to changing demands.

Regardless of whether the report recommended a regulator, the stark reality is that we need a regulator for this industry and that need did not arise today or yesterday. There is no point in pussy footing around on this issue. A regulator is needed and I compliment my colleague, Deputy Ó Cuív on his efforts to bring this issue to the fore. I have a small suckler herd myself and am well aware of the limitations within the agricultural sector. We need a regulator because farmers have been fighting with the factories for decades. We should take that as a given following this debate. We must put in a regulator and face them down.

I have met farmers who appear from the outside to be strong, efficient and doing well. However, due to difficulties as a result of illness, problems with machinery and so forth, they have no cash flow. I have met many such farmers, as have other Deputies in this House. They have financial commitments, with children at school or in college but have only a single income in the household. They are experiencing enormous difficulties. As is the case with many other rural Deputies, I have been negotiating with banks, co-ops and marts on their behalf.

Farmers are also very concerned about departmental inspections. I spoke to the Minister privately last night on this matter. An individual who is very involved in the agricultural sector and has his finger on the pulse said to me recently that the inspection regime within the Department is out of control. The special investigations unit and other units within the Department need to be less rigid. I have seen numerous parliamentary questions tabled recently with regard to people who made genuine mistakes in terms of how they conducted their business. These are hardworking, decent farmers and that deserves recognition.

The thrust of tonight's debate is that we have a crisis at farm gate level. Last year, the price for beef was good, though not extraordinary. If I took anything from the Grange Beef Open Day last week it was that many suckler farmers are fearful they will not be able to sustain the production of high-quality cattle. Numerous reports have indicated that in the past farmers got into producing continental cattle and then, almost overnight, the factories decided they did not want such animals.

We need a blueprint and a road map for the agricultural sector. We must accept that there is a major crisis in the beef sector. Next autumn, when the weanlings hit the market, people will be careful not to get burned again. Those who invested heavily last year have been left very sore. The problem will spiral again and people will be left with debt they cannot service, families they cannot feed and commitments they cannot honour. We must face up to this crisis. There is no point in Members opposite saying we should not be raising this issue. Now is the time to deal it. We have a world-class product which is sought after all over the world. We should be marketing it properly. We should also ensure the best possible advice is given to farmers at farm gate level. Never again should it be a case of everybody putting their eggs into one basket, producing a particular product only for the factories to say they do not want it when it is ready for slaughter. It was not last November or December that the factories made that decision.

As I said at the outset, farmers will adapt and do whatever is necessary. They are used to running their businesses and ensuring they have a product for market. Whatever else we take from this debate, it must be accepted that we need a regulator for this industry and it is high time the Government acted in that regard. It needs to face down the people in the industry who argue that we do not need a regulator. The industry must be regulated, once and for all. We must also ensure that farmers are respected. In the past two to three years, farmers enjoyed a reasonably good income, despite the enormous difficulties caused by the fodder shortage in 2012 and 2013. Now, however, it is the multinationals and the major companies that are being wined and dined and the primary producers are being forgotten. We would not have one gallon of milk or one pound of beef were it not for the people who are willing to get their hands dirty in the morning and go out and farm. We need to acknowledge that. These people are as good as those in any other sector and it is high time we, as a House, acknowledged that.

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