Martin Ferris (Kerry, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion on the fodder crisis and the Sinn Féin amendment. We are trying to come up with constructive ways to address the crisis. We have been through all of this before in 2013. Those who were Members of the House then will well remember the crisis that evolved at that time and the lack of preparation by the Government, the Department and associated agencies. One would assume we would have learnt something from that experience but, unfortunately, what has evolved over the past four or five months has shown we have learnt nothing. The Government has learnt absolutely nothing. It was told well in advance what would happen. At the end of October and the beginning of November 2017, I sat in this Chamber next to Deputy Martin Kenny as he raised the issue of an imminent fodder crisis, in particular in the north west, and how it would affect the small, weak family farm.

Who gives a God damn about the small family farm? The Government certainly does not but we do. I come from a small family farm and am proud of it. It is part of my roots. My party and I represent the small family farms, the backbone of this country, who have been blackguarded and neglected by the policies of successive Governments that did not give a God damn about whether they survived. It suits them that they are gone off the face of the earth. That is what is happening now as well. Who has been hit hardest? It is not the big farmers as they have adequate fodder, it is the small and medium-sized family farm. They are the ones that have been hit and that have been hurt most. I would not mind but we knew about it. We were told about it in this House and we argued about it. The Minister relied on his report from Teagasc. We came back to the issue in January and it was the same situation.

People who were able to put their cattle out last week have now put them back in again because of the weather in recent days. Again, the areas that have been hit hardest include the west and the north west and the small family farms have been hit hardest. What can we learn from it here today? As true as day follows night, no first cut of silage will happen until mid to late June, which means farmers will be down a cut of silage. They are already down a cut of silage from last year because cattle were in from October. Heavy cattle have experienced problems with their hooves and there have been problems getting feed for them. Small farmers had to sell off their cattle at a loss because they did not have the feed to sustain them.

The Minister can gloss it up any way he likes but the God damn policy of the Government towards the weak, small and medium-sized family farm is non-existent. There is no policy whatsoever to help them. The Minister can say he allocated €1.5 million towards import transportation costs but what has that done for farmers? They are paying between €40 and €50 for a bale of silage if they can afford it. Farmers are borrowing money in order to buy feed. They have been blackguarded and neglected by successive Governments. I hope the weather will help the farmers in some way because they are wasting their time if they are depending on the Government to help them.

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