Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome tillage farmers and their IFA representatives to the Gallery this evening. They are not here for a holiday but because of their concerns. In July 2015, the previous Government, through the then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, launched Food Wise 2025, the slogan for which was “Local Roots — Global Reach”. Chapter 5, section 3 deals with the whiskey and craft beer sector and its closing paragraph reads as follows: "The ability of the sector to develop new markets will remain a key challenge and the alcoholic beverage industry needs a strong base of dairy farmers and grain growers supplying inputs to both the brewing and distilling sectors”. Alas, however, it seems that the last place where these two agriculture sectors enjoy recognition or share centre stage is Agriculture House. The tillage sector seems to have been consigned to the back room. In the past 12 months the Government has ensured that should the dairy sector run into a long-term milk price collapse, funding by way of low-cost loans will be made available, which I welcome.

I commend my party's agriculture spokesperson, Deputy Charlie McConalogue for tabling the private Member's motion before the House this evening. It must be acknowledged that there is a grain price crisis in the tillage sector. I am not going to deal with this issue in depth but would acknowledge that the price is market driven. I want the Minister to address the difficulties of those farmers who have been faced with an additional loss of income over and above that caused by low grain prices. These are the farmers who had to replant crops or failed to harvest same. The Minister has a file on his desk, as had his predecessor, detailing representations on behalf of farmers in my area of Cork east seeking both consideration and payment. Tillage farmers in my area took a double hit. Winter crops sown near the coast were storm damaged in late 2015 and early 2016 due to the soft drift created by a sea mist. The affected farmers replanted the land with spring crops but as the Minister knows, they ended up having to salvage same in the autumn, with an additional loss in tonnage. To give an example, an average sized grain trailer which would normally carry over 12 tonnes of grain was going into the mills weighing less than ten tonnes.

I plead with the Minister to take action. He indicated during a topical issue debate on the tillage crisis with Deputy Charlie McConalogue last October that once all the figures were to hand, he would make a decision. The figures are now to hand the Department and officials should be able to devise a method of calculating compensation. What has been the Government's response to the motion before the House? It has tabled an amendment which seeks to kick the can further down the road. The Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle attempted to gloss over the entire issue in his contribution.

This crisis is a welfare issue, not a populist one. In my area, it is as serious as the issues facing those who occupied Apollo House. Families are under severe income strain. How can any of these farmers, the majority of whom run family farms, seek funds from a lending agency when they cannot show any collateral from the previous year's trading?

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