Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Price fluctuation is a major problem for Irish farmers. I heard on Euronews last night that at one time there were 4 million farmers in France, but now there are 1 million ranchers. The same appears to be happening in this country. The Government and previous Governments through the years have neglected family farms. Family farms are responsible for holding a great many local communities together in terms of their schools and shops. The Minister has created a bubble in the dairy industry, which is now turning sour. I grant that €13 million has been given to the dairy sector, but a bubble has been created in which 60,000 more calves will turn into cattle and hit the beef sector within the next 12 months. Promises the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the cartels in the factories agreed last January are now being broken and prices are dropping. Those promises are being broken without the Minister doing anything about it. Prices in the sheep sector seem to be falling the whole time. Young farmers trying to get out there, even though some of them went into it before 2008, have been forgotten. CAP funding is not for the family farm, with 80% of it going to the 20% of ranchers around the country. GLAS was put into Pillar 2 for the so-called family farm. In May last year, GLAS came out and 25,000 people went into it. Sadly, while it is a good thing that it is opening again, GLAS has been changed around completely. The family farm is being driven out of it.

I was at a meeting the other night about the beef genomics scheme. The statistics tell one that they are relying on 40% accurate information to tell farmers what to do. One cannot run a business on 40% accurate information. We have a Minister who is talking about helping different parts of rural Ireland.

See this speech in context