Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Today I raise an issue that has previously been raised, which shows the importance of the issue, namely, the crisis in Irish agriculture with beef sector farmers and what they have gone through and continue to go through basically to try to provide an income on their family farms.

All farming sectors will face major difficulties post Brexit but Brexit has come already to the many beef farmers throughout the State. The very mention of Brexit two years ago seems to have given factories across the country the right to cut the prices on cattle. Prices have fallen by 20 cent to 25 cent per kilogram or in the region of €100 per head. This leaves many beef farmers unable to cover their costs and causes them to sell their cattle at a serious loss, which leads to huge stress in these family farms.

Factory prices currently do not meet the costs of producing the cattle. Some beef producers are also fattening some of their own cattle in their own feed lots. It is estimated that up to 20% of finished cattle are coming from factory controlled units. This is putting farmers in west Cork and throughout the State at a serious disadvantage. Some factories were found to be underweighing the cattle, thus underpaying our farmers for their meat. Little or nothing is done for the farmer in this regard.

For a farmer to break even, he or she needs to be getting €4.60 per kilogram but at the moment, the farmer is getting €3.40 per kilogram. Who is creaming off the farmers' back? The Tánaiste and I know who it is but nothing is done to stop this carry-on. Factories are arrogant in this country and have been left arrogant by the Government as we stand idly by and see many farmers who have farmed for generations go out of business. All we have to do is look across to the UK where farmers are getting €150 per head more for their cattle than Irish farmers get. How can this happen there and not here? Our farmers are putting out the best quality cattle and getting a shockingly poor return. Here lies the crisis for our farmers to simply survive.

The last budget was a great opportunity for Ireland to stand up for these farmers by giving them a €200 suckler cow grant. The Government, however, failed these farmers by only giving them €40. Many believe it would not be worth the trouble financially of weighing the cow and calf to just get €40 in return. The Government has had ample opportunity in the past three years to turn the fortunes of the beef farmer around but on the ground nothing has happened. This morning we see a new crisis looming for farmers as reported in leading articles in national newspapers. It looks like our friends in Britain are upping the ante in the battle over the Brexit backstop. Their plan aims to allow beef-producing countries such as Brazil to dodge the brunt of new import taxes or tariffs after Brexit. This will mean huge quantities of Brazilian beef being pushed into the UK market and quality Irish beef being priced out.

Agriculture and fisheries are two of the major industries in Ireland but at present, one senior Minister is responsible for both industries. This may have worked in the past but now with a very serious Brexit looming, the situation has changed completely. I see the crisis we are in and the bigger one facing us. I have called for a senior Minister to be responsible for each of the two industries and I call for that again today. Will the Tánaiste and the Government see what Ireland sees and appoint a stand-alone Minister with responsibility for agriculture and food to fight to save the livelihood of thousands of farmers?

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