Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Suckler farmers are existing; that is about it. They are existing on €13,000 a year, and many of them are on farm assist in order to survive. That is an indictment of the political establishment, the major political parties and some farming organisations. The fact that they are small farmers means they do not get the attention or the support they deserve to remain on their lands. Many of these small family farm sucklers are based in the west and the south west. Obviously, the type of land is very marginal in many cases. We underestimate the contribution they make to our economy, and in particular to the processors, who are huge beneficiaries of the suckler farm. Can the Minister imagine the suckler farm sector collapsing and being unable to survive? Can he imagine the knock-on effect that will have on the processing sector, our exports and so forth? The €2.5 billion per year export market is dependent on 75,000 suckler farmers remaining in the sector. Any reduction in that number will have an effect on that €2.5 billion.

What suckler farmers need, as a human right, to survive is support, and part of that support has to be a headage payment to allow them stay on their farms. Can the Minister imagine the social consequences for rural Ireland if the suckler farm is gone off our landscape?

Currently, there is a huge debate around the effects of Brexit, in particular, the opening up of the British market to the likes of Brazilian beef and so forth and how that will affect producers here. They are talking about a 16% reduction in income. A 16% reduction on €13,000 a year would be catastrophic. That needs to be taken into account, not least in terms of the beef we know and the standards we have set ourselves within the EU regarding traceability from conception to the table. That will no longer be the case, and that is what the Irish farming organisations will have to compete with.

During the next negotiation it is essential that every effort is made to try to ensure there will be a subsidy for each suckler farmer and each sucker cow, and €200 a head is small money when we consider the social consequences for rural Ireland. It is important to have that in terms of the survival of rural Ireland. The onus is on all of us here, and in particular the Government and the Minister, to ensure that is attainable. We, in Sinn Féin, did our sums on that and worked it out in our pre-budget submission, which the Minister probably has read. They show clearly that for the first 15 cows, there is a subsidy of €200 a head for the calf. That is attainable, and the Minister will find it in our submission.

I commend Deputy McConalogue for bringing this motion before the House. There is a tendency within the political establishment, and certainly within the economic establishment, to say that big is great, that it is all about getting bigger and that the small person is cannon fodder and should be forgotten. However, we have to stand up and fight for the small farmer because that is how we will be judged. We will not be judged by erasing rural Ireland or the small suckler farmers. If 50% of them go, that leaves 37,500. If they go off the land, can the Minister see the consequences for rural Ireland? Can he see the effect it will have on the local economies in rural Ireland? Can he visualise the importance of their contribution? In his submission the Minister said that every €1 generates €4. I do not know if that is true, but it certainly generates a lot more than €1 when it is circulated within our rural communities.

It is about time the Government stood up and ensured a headage payment for each suckler cow to ensure the survival of the family suckler farm.

9 o’clock

The onus is on each and every one of us to make sure of that. It is up to us to hold the Minister to account and it is up to him and the Government to deliver.

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