Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that working capital at this time of year is always an issue in the context of merchant credit, etc. On the difficult weather, I have engaged with many, if not all, of the co-operatives directly and have been assured by all of them, in the context of the difficulty that some farmers are experiencing, that merchant credit is not an issue. I appreciate that this has to be paid back. The dilemma we face is the competing demands for capital investment as opposed to working capital. We are trying to work through that in the Department. This is a space that the State should not be in but it reflects that we do not have, relative to our competitors, competitive financial products available to Irish farmers at a cost comparable with other member states in the European Union. We are trying to address a gap in the market by developing a new product that meets that.

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