Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is travelling the country at the moment, which I welcome. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Andrew Doyle, is in Mayo this evening listening to the stories from the core of Irish farming. The Minister will know that in many ways it stands at a cliff edge at this time. We face the challenge of Mercosur and the decline in quality which that might bring with it; Brexit and the decline that represents in our main market and also the detrimental effect that will have on the CAP budget, which still underpins the entire rural economy whether we like it or not. Then there are the various fluctuations in price. Everyone here has praised the dairymen this evening but we all know that could change as quickly as an outbreak in China or any of our main markets. It is unpredictable and unsustainable.

Looking at the Government's response to the motion, its actions and its standing by departmental under-spends year after year while there are also delays in payments, it strikes me that the Minister does not understand the severity or urgency of the challenge which is what tonight is about. Tonight's proposals are about putting a foundation on our beef industry which is one of our green flag industries, one which successive Governments and various bodies put huge resources behind promoting, one whose quality and standards we are very proud of, one where our farmers are put the pin of their collar every day to maintain those standards, inspection after inspection, cross-compliance and every other thing. Yet, here we are with a substantial proposal to put a foundation under that industry and say we are taking it seriously and it is being ignored and dismissed.

Recognising this challenge will involve supporting the motion and putting in place a review of the underspend in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It does not make sense for that underspend to continue year after year. There are difficulties around late claims, especially on the capital side, but why does this happen year after year? As noted earlier, we were here around this time last year with an emergency motion around tillage farmers. Very little came of that. We are here tonight over sucklers: we could be here again about dairy. Nevertheless, the issues I receive in my office relate to payments that are consistently delayed and difficulties in getting them. I take this opportunity to commend the staff who work in the Minister's Oireachtas unit who go beyond the call of duty each time to assist Members but that should not be necessary. We should not have to do that. The Minister should take on board the seriousness of this motion and the serious crisis that faces the suckler sector, particularly on the west coast. He should put his money where his mouth is in terms of his commitment to farming and support farmers on this occasion.

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