Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. As we can see based on those who have contributed so far, the crisis is widespread. I am disappointed that the press is not present to cover this national issue, which affects every community. If we take every funding line in the Department's budget, there are farmers waiting for money. Other farmers have won appeals and reviews over the past eight to ten weeks but no money has been released yet. I appeal to the Minister to go through his budget line by line and if money can be released to farmers in any way, shape or form, that should happen. Farmers are short of money now as well.

I spoke to an elderly man last night who said that a wet summer or a wet fall is always followed by a bad spring and he named every year that has happened since the 1940s. Departmental staff should track that annually. It is almost five years to the day since we had our most recent debate on a fodder crisis.

The mental health of farmers is also an issue. Collectively, as a House, we have to acknowledge this. Farmers are grappling with decisions they have made over the past five years, particularly since quotas were abolished. They increased the size of their herds and their borrowing capacity and so forth. They are in a stressful place as are their spouses and children. We need to acknowledge that there is a crisis and we need to encourage them to come forward and talk about it.

When the previous Minister, Deputy Coveney, opened the new Dairygold plant, he referred to the bright future and the glorious opportunities that were available. It was pouring out of the heavens yesterday evening and one farmer said to me that there are glorious opportunities now. We need a sustainable agriculture industry going forward. It is a vital industry, which is keeping many rural communities alive. We need to make sure expansion is sustainable and that we are not back in the House in five months or five years talking about problems.

There is a fodder crisis, which needs to be addressed. Whatever funding is available within the Department should be released post haste.

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