Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for putting down this important motion. I had hoped that we would have a constructive debate tonight and I believe we were having a relatively constructive debate until the Chief Whip entered. It should be noted that the Chief Whip sits at the Cabinet table. That he takes such a partisan approach to such an important debate is reprehensible and regrettable. We all have our views about the seriousness of the situation. This is not necessarily to suggest that anyone on any one side of the House has all the solutions, but in fairness to Deputy Ó Cuív he has published proposals in the past. He has put forward a motion tonight. If the Government could see its way to support the motion it would at least give confidence to the 100,000 families who are at their wits' end. They are struggling to stay in business and need to see support coming from those of us in this House rather than see us squabble over minor insults that the Chief Whip might have perceived from things that were said. What we really need to do now is put an appropriate plan in place and take views from all sides, in particular, the views of the people whose livelihoods are most affected.

There is little doubt that the Government must look to the greater industry. It is widely accepted that the former Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, produced a document, Harvest 2020, which received critical acclaim throughout the political sector and the industry. The current Minister makes many announcements, visits many factories and participates in many appropriate photo opportunities. However, the real work in delivering for Harvest 2020 will come about if the Government puts its support behind the beef sector. It is the case that milk is doing well and has been doing well. Obviously, there are challenges ahead for that sector as well but we are dealing with the beef industry. We cannot allow the suckler cow herd to continue to drop or watch cows being sold off year after year and not replaced. This is happening, frankly, because farmers cannot afford to replace them. They are selling off the cow to put a child through college, to pay the capitation fees or bills and to pay for the inputs because the costs of inputs are rising significantly and we have seen a significant reduction in beef prices in the past year.

Any of the Teagasc reports produced shows that a farmer needs at least €4 per kilogramme to reach a basic margin. More likely, a farmer needs to get €4.50 to have a feasible enterprise. They are taking €3.75 at the moment and sometimes €3.70 or €3.50. The factories are not living up to the commitments that they made throughout the sector. This requires a co-ordinated approach by Government. The Minister of State, Deputy Kehoe, made the point that it would be illegal for the Government or that it would not be possible for the Government to insist on the price that the factories sell beef at, but we know that. It is as obvious as night following day but there is more the Government could do in putting it up to the industry and challenging the industry to treat farmers more fairly.

The Irish Farmers Association has referred to how "the failure of Minister Coveney to challenge the factories on the beef price and specification issues at the Beef Forum is being used by the factories as a licence to drive on and implement these severe cuts across the board". The IFA is demanding that the Minister should stand up for farmers and take firm and decisive action with the meat factories. It is as simple as that. It is clear that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, has not intervened to assist the situation.

The IFA is also demanding that roadblocks be removed since they are impeding the live trade to Northern Ireland which is vital for price competition. The Minister, Deputy Coveney, knows that and he needs to do far more in a proactive way to support the live export trade, which is essential for price competition. That has been true from time immemorial and it has been a feature of previous Governments.

Much criticism was made of a former leader of our party in respect of certain activities that he participated in but he certainly believed in the beef industry and in the necessity of having competition in the market. When Charlie Haughey went to Libya some time back with Alan Gillis of the IFA, they showed the necessary support for that sector. They were not prepared to be fobbed off by the processing sector. This is the type of intervention, a hands-on approach, required to ensure that the sector is capable of providing for the wider economy in terms of the jobs it can create and maintain and, more important, that it can keep a sustainable livelihood for 100,000 farm families.

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