Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I compliment my colleague, Deputy McConalogue, for bringing forward this very important Private Members' Bill. Our suckler cow herd is a key cornerstone of rural Ireland. It is worth €2.5 billion in exports. Every euro that is earned from the sector is worth €4 to the rural economies. In my own area, towns such as Rathdowney, Roscrea, Cahir and Nenagh are dependent on the processing sector for jobs. These are parts of the country which would find it very hard to bring in alternative employment.

I know the Minister will say that if we are to bring in a payment such as this for suckler cows there will have be a cut across the board in the single farm payment. The single farm payment budget must be ring-fenced and protected in the next round of the CAP negotiations. We are looking for extra funding for suckler cows and low-income farmers. There can be no soft negotiations this time and no concessions on our single farm payment. That €400 billion budget has to be maintained. This extra funding must be found in the next round of CAP negotiations.

There are two unprecedented challenges facing our beef industry. The first one is Brexit. Our Taoiseach came home before Christmas and told us that everything in the garden was going to be hunky-dory. Unfortunately, the developments of the past week have shown that a hard border looks set to be the outcome of Brexit. That is going to put huge pressure on our beef industry. Our dependence on the UK market grew in 2017 in spite of the best efforts of Bord Bia. Some 50% of our beef is sold in the UK market and a hard border would put huge pressure on our beef industry. We also have the challenge of Mercosur. Already the European Commission has offered 70,000 tonnes of tariff-free beef to South American countries and we hear on the grapevine that it is prepared to increase that offer to 99,000 tonnes. When is our Commissioner going to say stop and that enough is enough? When will our Government and governments across the EU step in and protect the European beef sector? What is proposed at the moment could already cost the European beef sector €5 billion and this Mercosur trade deal, coupled with Brexit, is the reason our sector must get support and must get it now.

Any time we talk about agriculture now we have to square up to climate change. The beef data genomics programme, if properly funded, has a role to play in reducing our emissions and carbon footprint. As I have said, the next round of CAP negotiations has to look at low-income sectors and extra funding has to be found if we are to avoid land abandonment in certain areas. The case for sucklers is clear. I would also like to mention hill sheep farmers. An extra €10 per ewe is needed to keep land in mountain and hill areas farmed. Again, this has a key role to play in lowering our emissions and decreasing our carbon footprint. I would be remiss to not also refer to the hen harrier scheme introduced by the Minister in recent weeks. This scheme will be judged on whether it restores the value of land in those designated areas. In the view of the farmers in those areas, this scheme will fail miserably.

In the past the Commission has stepped in when countries were in need. When the ban on exports to Russia was introduced the Commission stepped in and provided a fund for the Balkan countries affected. We are now in a similar position. Brexit and Mercosur are coming down the tracks towards us. The case for funding is clear. As has been stated by my colleague, the suckler cow sector needs that extra €200 per cow if we are to maintain our beef herd. The hill ewe also needs that extra premium and proper compensation must be provided to restore the value of designated land. The beef forum that has been established has failed to deliver. The arguments are clear. The underspend in the Department in 2016 was €106 million and it was €78 million in 2017. That money can be used to fund the low-income sectors while we wait for increased funding from the next round of the CAP.

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