Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I did. I had to do everything with it. I picked up 20 tonnes of loose beet off the field by hand after the machine was done, which took me a week. I was born on a 36 acre farm. Most small farms tend to be a mixture of different aspects of farming involving cereals and different animals, be they pigs, cattle or sheep. Small farmers tended to have a bit of everything and there was something very good about it.

The reason I decided to contribute was because I have been listening to some small farmers in Wexford. The fodder crisis was the stimulus for it. Small farmers contacted me to say they wondered why in God's name we do not do anything for the small farmer. I am of the opinion that we take much better care of the big farmer than we do of the small one. The small farmer needs the Government's help more. I was away at the time but it was pointed out to me that on the radio, the Minister had called on the banks to be more open to giving farmers short-term loans to help them with the crisis and said that the agricultural sector was one of the most bankable in Ireland. The farmers told me that they tried but they could not get it. We all know that if the sun was shining, the banks would give a person an umbrella, but if it started raining, they would want it back. There is no doubt that the less money a person needs, the easier it is to get it from a bank, but the more money he or she needs, the more difficult it is to get it. That is not just in farming. It is in all areas.

The small farmers who were contacting me about the fodder crisis were very frustrated. They feel abandoned. We know there has been great help for certain areas of agriculture. We have probably made millionaires out of the big dairy farmers. We gave away our fish on the cent of it. I would not expect the Minister to agree with me on anything anyway. The small farming sector is worth protecting.

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