Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Táim buíoch as ucht an deis labhairt ar an ábhar tábhachtach anocht. All of the farming organisations have highlighted the severe crisis facing tillage farmers across the country. Tillage farmers have been hit very hard this year with the delayed harvest, poor yields and low prices. According to the Teagasc annual review and outlook for 2017, Irish cereal yields were down 12% for wheat and 8% for barley in 2016 by comparison with 2015, while prices have also reduced. This decline in income is taking place at a time when input costs have increased and the net margin of the average cereal farmer has reduced by €130 per hectare. The result is that farmers will find meeting repayment deadlines or making any additional investments extremely difficult this year. The farmers need the support of the Government. They do not need goodwill but support.

A survey carried out by farming organisations indicates quite clearly that individual growers experience losses running from 25% to close on 50%, with straw loss averaging approximately 50%. These are only average losses. Others are experiencing significantly higher losses. This is not the fault of the tillage farmers, but this once-in-a-lifetime situation has compounded the deepening income crisis on many tillage farms after four consecutive years of low grain prices below the cost of production, increasing costs and reducing direct and greening payments.

There are over 11,000 farmers across this State. We know that hundreds have been affected severely by this crisis. The Government must not sit on its hands while a key agricultural sector is abandoned and left to suffer in this way.

Support must be made available to tillage farmers immediately.

In this context, the underspend of €86 million in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is astonishing. My colleague and Sinn Féin MEP, Mr. Matt Carthy, who is a member of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, has consistently raised this issue. He has highlighted the need for an urgent financial package for those farmers impacted by severe weather damage. A low-cost scheme does not address serious cashflow problems in the here and now. For many farmers, the scheme will be too little, too late.

The Government is failing grain farmers by refusing to prioritise this issue as its French counterpart has done. Must other countries lead the way every time? Can we not use some initiative now and again or be ahead for once? Grain farmers in France, who have not suffered nearly as badly as farmers in Ireland have, have been successful in bringing the issue directly to the European Council whereas our Minister and the Commissioner have refused to seek a solution at EU level. This comes as no surprise.

The major problem is that, unlike the French, the Irish Government never officially asked for support. The only way for crisis funding to be provided is if a number of governments ask for it. It is dreadful that we must make this point. The Government should ask for the support. Europe will not just hand it to us. We must make the case for our farmers. The Government needs to act without delay. We do not want anymore excuses, only action.

As we all know, the impact of severe weather in 2016 was devastating for many tillage farmers, with crops almost entirely wiped out in some cases. Without financial support, these farmers will not survive. It adds insult to injury to offer a loan system at a time when the crisis has deepened for many farmers. The Government and Brussels must step up to the mark and support our grain farmers, who will otherwise face financial ruin.

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