Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, welcome the debate and thank I Deputy McConalogue for tabling the motion. I welcome our friends in the Public Gallery who would love to be at home tonight - if it was a fine night - ploughing and sowing and planting seeds. That is what they are good at. When farmers are doing well, Ireland is doing well. Never mind Deputy Bríd Smith talking about cows breaking wind or whatever. I hear a lot of hot air from her, Deputy Boyd Barrett and their colleagues on many issues. If they could not get a carton of milk in the morning, they would be rioting. They do not care about rural Ireland. They are very parochial up here. I care about rural Ireland and so do other people in this House. However, those to whom I refer do not care.

What happened to the Minister? Where is his moral compass gone? Fine Gael has always been known as the party of the farmers. I might put in a caveat and say that it is the party that cares about the big farmers and to the hell with the small fellows. Now, however, the Minister does not seem to care about anything. I have nothing personal against him but he was asleep at the wheel to allow €106 million to be returned to the Exchequer in 2016 and €86 million to be returned last year when people were clamouring for action. Anyone who could see beyond the end of his nose last year could see, on 20 July, that animals were brought in and the second cut of silage was not harvested. In some places, even the first cut was not brought in.

The Minister of State - not the Minister - came to the House earlier to answer questions. The Taoiseach was asked questions. He knows nothing about farming and cares less. That is obvious. He passed the matter on to the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, who said it was not true that we could have anticipated this last year. Everyone knew what was happening. The place was flooded, the crops could not be harvested and some people were overstocked. A child in kindergarten would have known what was going to happen. However, the Government did not want to know and it sent back the money. Those in government cannot see the wood for the trees. The Government has many officials standing in its way, both here and in Europe. It is honouring and bowing to all of them and saying "To hell with the farmers". Deputy Harty said it - many farmers are under serious psychological stress. Farmers want to pay their suppliers. However, the banks and the contractors cannot be paid and there will be a knock-on effect if the Minister does not wake up and do something very soon. The Government's approach to this matter has been lethargic and inept in the extreme.

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