Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for his forbearance in changing time slots, etc. I am delighted to be able to bring this evening's important debate to a conclusion. I acknowledge the presence of our guests from the various farming organisations. We have received support from members of Nursing Homes Ireland, who are keenly aware of the vital importance of reforming the nursing home support scheme for the families of those involved in farming and small business. I acknowledge the genuine good faith of the Minister of State, Deputy McEntee. The comments she has just made are very helpful. The input of the Minister of State and the Department of Health throughout this process is much appreciated. The Minister of State and the personnel in my office, particularly Triona and David, have worked hard to take a collaborative approach to this matter. I thank my colleagues for remaining in the Chamber during this evening's debate.

The motion we have proposed calls on the Government to "honour the commitment in the Programme for a Partnership Government to remove discrimination against small businesses and family farms" under the fair deal nursing home scheme. The Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, might not have been present during last year's talks. We were all there. We fought very hard day by day with senior members of the Minister of State's party to end this discriminatory anomaly. That is the essence of the way we are proposing the motion. It is about fairness. It is about removing the perception that people in rural Ireland are second-class citizens, and are soft touches in terms of generating additional revenue for the State. This motion is about finding a just and sustainable approach for farming families and communities. We should not forget that farm families generate almost €8 billion euro for the Irish economy every year. That is not to be sniffed at, especially in the context of Brexit and the way the economy is. When farmers are going well, Ireland is going well. When farmers have money, they spend it. They do not hold on to it.

The amendment proposed by the Government, like the Minister of State, is genuine. However, it is simply not acceptable to the members of the Rural Independent Group. We eagerly await the publication of the findings of the interdepartmental report. I do not like interdepartmental reports. I do not like these things, especially when the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform gets involved because this leads to delays and delays. The needs of farming families are urgent and immediate. The reform of, and introduction of equity into, the fair deal scheme has to happen. It must form a significant part of the conclusions of the interdepartmental group. Farmers and farming families are responsible people. They are eager and willing to pay their fair share as they have always done. However, they are not eager to continue accepting an economic state of affairs in which they are disproportionately penalised and their assets are drained of value.

As many speakers have said this evening, the farm is not an asset, as such - it is a tool of the trade needed by farmers to do their daily work so they can put bread and butter on the table, educate their families and pay their taxes. The family farm is not a business like any other; it is the backbone of rural Ireland and the rural economy. We know that now more than ever with the demise of post offices and local GP practices and the lack of industry and investment. Small family businesses, particularly small farming enterprises, are sustaining rural Ireland. The current arrangement radically undermines the viability of this country's entire farming model. By undermining the family farm, the fair deal scheme is introducing a deeply destabilising element into the wider economy that provides our schools, playing fields and other amenities. Farmers always put their shoulders to the wheel, for example by providing sites free of charge or at a very nominal fee for schools and other facilities. This is one of the fundamental reasons this motion, which deals explicitly with farming families, is deeply linked to everyone who participates or wished to participate in the fair deal scheme.

I repeat that this motion is not about seeking preferential treatment for farmers and small businesses, but about the introduction of equity and fairness. That is what I am about here in my work with my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group. We are looking for equity and fairness rather than discrimination against rural people. We must find a way to balance the family care needs of farmers with their duty and responsibility to nurture the land and maintain the family farm model. It is vital for the land to be nurtured and the family farm model to be retained. We cannot have one conglomerate buying up all the property, as is happening in my county. Small family farms are needed to keep the schools open and to keep the GAA and other sports teams going. If we are to keep the lights on in rural Ireland, there must be people living there.

While we recognise the positive aspects of the nursing home support scheme, we have serious concerns about its adverse impact on farm families. I refer particularly to the viability of farm businesses and other small family businesses for the next generation. As the IFA, the ICMSA and the ICSA have indicated, the assets of farmers and self-employed people with family businesses are productive assets rather than a measure of additional ability to pay. The Revenue Commissioners, which have been mentioned by Deputies during this debate, have accepted this long-standing precedent in their treatment of different aspects of taxation including inheritance tax. I do not know how the fair deal scheme ended up being imposed on farmers in such a discriminatory manner. As Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said, it is not a fair deal at all. It is a pretty poor deal.

The current financial assessment is not progressive. The contribution to the cost of long-term care is the same for a farm worth €500,000 as it is for a farm worth €5 million. We are not talking about those kinds of farms or businesses. We are talking about ordinary small people. The assessment is fundamentally unfair and has a disproportionate impact on low-income farm families, where any further dilution of the farm assets could make the farm non-viable for future generations. The Minister of State, Deputy McEntee, knows and understands this because she was reared on a farm. It is getting harder and harder to keep farms viable. They cannot sustain this penalty. This is a worry for many farmers. Their health is failing as a result. They are suffering from stress and trauma. Farming is now a very lonely occupation. It is not like the days of the meitheal when there were many people to help. It is often the case that there is no one on the farm other than a husband and wife. The husband might be there on his own during the day. The concerns and pressures for those involved comprise one of the reasons we need to address this scheme.

When the president of the ICMSA, Mr. John Comer, commented on the data in the 2016 Teagasc national farm survey, he referred to the decrease of 9% in farm incomes, including a reduction of 17% in the dairy sector. Those of us who live in rural communities have seen the knock-on effects of those reductions, including the lack of business being transacted and the lack of investment in communities. As I have said, farmers spend their money when they have it. The Acting Chairman, Deputy Eugene Murphy, knows this because he comes from a rural background. Mr. Comer went on to say that the collapse in milk prices in 2015 and 2016 affected those who had made investments in the hope of getting better milk prices. The farmers in question got back on their feet to a certain extent, but some of them are staggering badly. I ask the Minister of State to take note of this because it demonstrates clearly how hard it is for farm families to keep their farms and their homes together. These important and wonderful institutions - farms and homes - have been the bastion of our society over the decades. We do not want factory farms and big conglomerates. They are no good to rural Ireland. They are no good to anywhere.

Mar focal scoir, we need reform now. We need this to be done. The Minister of State is talking about an interdepartmental review. She has referred to research into which the IFA and others have fed. Many farmers were not aware of that. They are not aware of such matters because they are so busy. They do not see all these advertisements. The Department does not reach its tentacles into where they operate. As I have said, farmers can be lonely and isolated. They need common sense here. I accept the Minister of State's bona fides when she says she wants to deal with this matter in the Estimates and in budget 2018. It has to be in the budget for 2018. Farmers have been discriminated against for long enough at this stage.

I have to pay tribute to the management and staff in the nursing home industry. I am talking about private people who borrowed money to make these investments. It was a scandal for Deputies from the AAA-PBP to speak as they did. I refer to the anti-everything group who say "won't pay, can't pay". They pay for nothing. They want everything off the State. How dare they criticise the entrepreneurial skills of the entrepreneurs who have built nursing homes up and down the country to provide places for sick people? What do they want us all to do? I do not know what they want. Do they want anarchy? The Deputies from the Social Democrats and Green Party never even came in to speak in this debate. That shows the interest they have in rural Ireland, the small business people of Ireland and the small farmers of Ireland, who are the backbone of our society. I think it is shameful. I hope the people will know they did not participate in this debate. We are here and we make no apology for it.

The Rural Independent Group is here to represent the people of rural and urban Ireland. When I say "rural", I mean everything outside the Red Cow. We are representing those people. We listen to those people. We are of that community. We listen to it and we represent it. We have a duty as Teachtaí Dála to represent rural people. We are not all living in this mad city where one cannot get a house, sustain a living or get a school place.

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We have the schools, the infrastructure and enthusiastic people who want to work, to diversify their farms and to keep their small businesses going to give employment to the people in the community. We know the pressures on shopkeepers and post offices. We want to keep them all in business. If there is further discrimination against farmers and small businesses, we will close down rural Ireland. The six or seven members of the Anti-Austerity Alliance-People Before Profit group might hire an eight seater van during the summer holidays and go down the country. We will show them what goes on in rural Ireland and the dedication of the people and the communities that make the place tick. I refer to people working on farms, working with clubs and engaged in everything else that is good about Ireland. Those Members should not be anti-everything. They do not want anyone to invest in anything. I do not know what kind of a country they want. We would have a barren wasteland where they could fly around with their placards and zone in and zone out. They are not zoned into rural Ireland. They have no interest in it. I do not come up here to bash the working class people of Dublin. I represent them also. We have to represent all creeds and none, and all types of people in whatever employment they are in or whatever lives they lead. We have to represent our diaspora also, who will have no one to come home to if those Members get their way because we will have nothing.

I ask the Minister of State and her colleague, the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, in whatever role they are in next week after the big day-----

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