Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I listened to the Minister's reply and while he says he is in touch with the farming community, there is a crisis. As Deputy McConalogue has said, in 2012 we had to import fodder from the UK and this situation is as bad as that. This winter has imposed a huge cost on all livestock farmers. The Minister stated that farmers should be able to budget for their supplies. In some cases, cattle are being fed fodder for eight or nine months. It is incomprehensible that anybody who has stocked up with any kind of intensity would be able to cater for a winter of that duration.

Ground conditions are still extremely poor with very heavy rain again this week. Soil temperatures are extremely low and even if the weather was to improve now it will be May Day before there is any reasonable supply of grass available. This is even in the traditional airy ground where cows would usually be out from the end of February and the beginning of March.

On Tuesday, I drove to Dublin from Tipperary. I saw no herd of cows out anywhere as we came up through the country. This fodder crisis is affecting the poorer land areas and the more intensively-farmed areas.

Farmers are under huge strain. The Minister has given no indication that he will move on a concentrate subsidy. The price of concentrate is increasing by the day and men need help.

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