Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy McConalogue for his kind remarks. I look forward to working with him and his colleagues during my tenure as Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

The Deputy referred to the recent Teagasc farm survey, which is a useful barometer but is somewhat behind the curve in so far as it deals with farm incomes for 2015. We are all aware that incomes in 2016 will be substantially different.

It may not be widely understood outside the farming community that average farm incomes are still substantially below the average industrial wage. That should be borne in mind in the context of the broader debate on the economy. The Deputy said that the primary producer receives very little, and raised the prospect of a food ombudsman to address that issue. In the dying months of the last Administration the Government introduced a series of initiatives through the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation which brought greater clarity to the treatment of food producers by the multiples with regard to the inclusion of everything in the contract. We wait to see how effective that will be. It will require ongoing vigilance.

The Deputy may also be aware of an EU initiative under which Commissioner Phil Hogan expects a report before the end of the year on the supply chain and measures to improve the position of the primary producer. While I am open-minded about a food ombudsman, it would be useful to have information that is current and up to date to feed into a process before we make any commitments on that. I will be convening meetings this month of the dairy forum and, I hope, the beef forum to discuss the income crisis.

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