Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The reality is that large numbers in our farming community are on their knees. The Minister knows it, I know it and Deputies McNamara and Connaughton knows it. They are on their knees because a cartel is in operation and the market is being manipulated by the cartel and by the multiples. The figures are frightening. In the farming section of today's Irish Independent, Joe Healy calculated that he is getting €600 less for a Friesian steer now than he got in 1988. He took inflation and the single farm payment into account and did his sums. He is getting €3.30 per kilogram for O and P grades. Meanwhile, Tesco is selling fillet steak at €35.94, rib eye steak for €26.65 and minced round steak for €8.40 per kilogram. The producers and small farmers in the west are being crucified. The people whom Deputies from the west represent are on their knees. These are the people from whom farm assist was taken.

These are the people who have no social structures or anything to help them. The big barons can manipulate the market any time they want to by calling on their feeders to surplus the market and bring down the price of cattle. That is what they do. They have access to the database, maybe not legally, but the Minister and I, and every Deputy knows that. They use it to manipulate the market and the prices.

I commend the Minister for the work he has been doing to try to get Tesco and others to resolve the issue of an island of Ireland label. The chief executive officer of Dawn Meats objected to it, saying it was wrong, that he would oppose it and he called on other barons to do likewise. These people have influence on governments and Departments. That is why the beef producers in the west and south west are on their knees. They are victims of a cartel that is manipulating the market. The Minister and every Deputy knows that.

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