Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the very dignified protest that took place outside Government Buildings and Agriculture House. I welcome the IFA president, Joe Healy, and the IFA national grain chairman, Liam Dunne, along with na daoine óga, na buachailí óga a bhí amuigh agus na mná freisin.

The Minister should know this because he is a farmer, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle and the man sitting behind them, Deputy Pat Deering. They must be blindfolded if they cannot see what is happening. Thankfully in County Tipperary we had an excellent harvest, good weather and reasonable crops but we had poor prices. That is fair enough, we can manage with that. Three elements must be right in order to get a good harvest - good crops, weather and prices. Prices at the moment are very bad and the people in the Public Gallery this evening would be ploughing their land in preparation for next year's harvest if they did not have to come up here. They should be ordering fertiliser from their suppliers but they cannot do so because they cannot pay for last year's supply. Surely to God the Minister understands this. We cannot put up with this balderdash from the Government in the form of the amendment it has proposed to the motion. I think the amendment will be defeated and the Government will be forced to act. I hope this happens because the Government does not deserve to be in office. Its members will not listen to the people and support them.

Farming has become a dirty word and farmers are not wanted. We heard Deputy Bríd Smith earlier lecturing us about climate change. It is a wonder that she did not start talking about abortion in the middle of it because that is all she ever talks about. What does she care about the farmers? I know what she would make all right. If scarecrows were scarce, we would be in business. I am not going to say any more about that because she took offence one time-----

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