Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

-----that climate change is a consequence of a chaotic and ill-thought out economic system of production we have right across the world. This was not just a crisis for 2016 for hundreds of farmers who are in the Gallery today, there will be a similar crisis in 2017 and it is clear that the farming community, especially those who engage in tillage, need the financial and planning support of the State not just for last year or this year but on a more permanent thought-out basis.

As other speakers have indicated, between €3.5 million and €4 million has been lost by hundreds of farmers but, ironically, for the same reason, 2016 was a very good one for the production of crops internationally. Elsewhere in the world improved crop production has resulted in a drop in the price of grain globally. That does not mean we will get cheaper food in supermarkets or that we will end global hunger, it will just mean that the profits of the big, multinational agrifood corporations will increase and their profits are sacrosanct. Needless to say we will not see a decrease in food poverty or in the poverty of the farmers who are here today.

However, it is not just a crisis of climate change, weather and declining grain prices that farmers must deal with this year, there are many other issues impacting on farming and rural communities. I find it highly ironic that the two parties which have led this country in the past, namely, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, are trying to outbid each other today in their support for those farmers, but at the same time they show little concern about a deal like CETA that is coming down the tracks and will affect small and medium farmers. There has been no critical analysis of how the deal, which both parties uncritically support, will impact on the same communities they are addressing today.

In reality, they show little concern either for the fact that rural post offices are being closed down. Yesterday we heard an announcement by An Post that it would close hundreds of post offices. Another issue of concern relates to a matter we discussed yesterday on the winding down of Bus Éireann and how that will impact on rural transport. Little concern has been shown by the two parties for the impact of all those measures. We need to think hard and fast about why the two main parties which are responsible for what has happened in the State for decades seem to outbid each other when it comes supporting small and medium farmers, but when it comes to the bigger picture they are failing rural communities and the farming community in general.

To add insult to injury for farmers, a report in the Irish Independent, which I am sure was not lost on them, stated that:

Industry sources say that as many as 200 farmers may be affected by the sale of a €2.5bn Ulster Bank loan portfolio to US vulture fund Cerberus last October. Hundreds more could also come under pressure if the anticipated sale of other Irish mortgage portfolios to global funds goes ahead.

The article quoted David Hall, CEO of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation, as saying that "this year we are going to see a very significant increase in vulture fund activity against everybody, including farmers." They are swooping on family farms, the ultimate cause of which is what the Fianna Fáil-run Administration did to this country when it handed it over to its buddies in the banks and to developers and the continuation of the same policy by the Minister for Finance and this Government through giving tax breaks to these vulture funds and actively encouraging them to come to this country. Both parties have resisted any legislation that would have meant that we could see an end to the automatic eviction of farmers. Both parties failed to support an amendment of mine to the Courts Bill before Christmas. I have little expectation that either party will support the anti-eviction Bill we brought to the floor of the Dáil last night. These communities will continue to be hammered by climate change, the closure of rural post offices, the running down of rural transport and the behaviour of the vulture funds and the banks and we are sitting back and allowing it to happen.

I support the indicative part of the motion that says that we need to support the farming communities in this particular crisis but it needs to be flagged that this is not the end of it. We must tackle climate change, part of which is increasing public transport rather than decreasing it, having a sensible approach to food production and cutting out the market madness that allows fluctuation in respect of the production of essential commodities like food. Discussing this and the impact on rural communities is a very important issue for us. We need to look at the underfunding of rural Ireland and the destruction of communities and stop the hypocrisy involved in saying on the one hand that we support them while on the other, supporting the banks, the closure of post offices and the destruction of rural transport.

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