John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I will try not to interrupt myself. I congratulate the Ceann Comhairle, as have other speakers, on his historic election. I was interested in Deputy Eamon Scanlon's comments earlier when he wished the Ceann Comhairle the best of luck in his deliberations over the next few weeks. I presume he was referring to the committee and not having a premonition about the term of office of the Ceann Comhairle, although he may have more information than I have.

I agree with previous speakers who mentioned the importance of agriculture as a sector of the economy, particularly in the recessionary period that the country has been in for the last seven or eight years. It has not received the recognition in the broader media that it deserves as a significant component in the improving economic situation of the country. That is important to state. For the first time in my life, I find myself in agreement with Deputy Pearse Doherty, which may be a sign of the new consensus politics that may be forced to emerge, on the pig sector. I confess that I come from a farming background, but there are not that many pig producers in south County Kilkenny, although there are some. I recently spoke to a significant producer who outlined to me the issues affecting his particular sector of agriculture, particularly in terms of labelling. While the Minister has made some inroads in that area, the case was put strongly to me that despite the expectation of shoppers and consumers that the pigmeat products of significant well-known Irish brands are actually Irish, the majority of what those companies are putting on shelves is not of Irish origin. I understand the purpose the green mark that goes on those products is meant to serve, but it does not outline clearly enough the fact that so much of the pigmeat sold on shelves in this country is not from here. The shopper and the general public would be shocked at the level of imports in that particular sector. Deputy Doherty is right that the production of pigmeat is not sustainable when the price is 20 cent per kilogram below the cost of production. There might be a job of work to be done in that particular area.

Others have spoken about intervention prices in the dairy sector, and I concur with the points that have been made. I note that in the lifetime of the last Dáil, a number of new taxation measures were introduced for the agriculture sector, including with regard to partnerships and companies and different measures that made it easier for new people to come in and for young people to partner with their parents on the family farm. There is significant opportunity now to look at what happens in other countries in terms of income-averaging over a number of years. I note that there have been some measures introduced in that regard here, but I am thinking in particular of an Australian scheme which was advocated for over a number of years by the IFA, although it seems to have dropped off its radar in the last 12 months. In terms of the dairy sector in particular, something like that, which is a little bit creative and different, would assist dairy farmers, many of whom are exposed to significant borrowings and cannot sustain a long period of depressed prices. Let us be honest: there is not much light at the end of the tunnel at the moment in terms of milk prices. Intervention is significant and important but it is not removing the problem. Rather, it is just postponing it. There are other measures which should be considered also.

Things are pretty much the same in the beef sector. A significant overhang is going to hit the beef sector in the next 12 months with the huge increase in the number of dairy cows across the country. That is going to result in the production of a lot of plainer cattle. The Minister has made significant strides with regard to reintroducing live shipping, and there was an announcement not so long ago. I hope the Minister can progress that further, because if the overhang hits in full it will further depress the price of beef and cause a significant shock in the sector.

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