Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome this opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion. I wish to clarify that the Pillar 1 single farm payment in Ireland will be reduced by €42 million over a six year period.

It has been stated in the House that food and food production are fundamental necessities of living, which means primary producers must always exist. As Deputy Stanley stated yesterday evening, one third of all farms in the country are not viable. As such, something is wrong with our model. To purely subsidise an industry without taking cognisance of the impact of this is not an effective way to give an adequate income to farmers. Farming is a business and several key measures must be taken to make farming a viable and profitable business. These include putting it in the hands of young trained people, but there is no mention in the motion of land mobility or access to the land for young people who are properly trained and focused, with the best of knowledge and research available to them, and with the support of other sectors such as banking.

Farmers should be given the power to negotiate and given a proper powerful position in the food chain. People are now prepared to show goodwill towards organising and legalising producer groups. We have seen how it can be done in a very effective way in Scotland with regard to shellfish production.

The evidence suggests the difficulties with regard to prices are improving. Four or five years ago, when the dairy milk price was at its lowest, co-ops were reducing the price. In the main these are farmer owned, but it is hardly likely the prices were being reduced by a cartel of farmer-owned co-ops. We should bear in mind there must be a balance in all of this.

The beef industry in particular is being discussed. This is probably the country's single biggest component of agricultural production and exports. Traditionally it has not been the most profitable, unless one goes back many years. There has been a difficulty because it has always seemed that for one player in the beef sector to do well it must be at the expense of another. I am involved in the industry, and there has been no proper trust, dialogue or respect between the various stakeholders in the beef sector. To this end everybody with a desire for a stable and secure beef production chain needs to engage positively with the forum.

Presentations have been made to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine by various farming organisations and other representative groups. It is noticeable that when organisations such as Macra na Feirme, the young farmers organisation, and the Irish Farm Managers Association, members of which are not generally landowners, come before the committee all they ask is for the gate to be opened so they can proceed. They do not ask for a leg-up over the gate; they want a taxation code and structure to allow them farm whereby they make a profit and receive income from production at the farm gate.

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