Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Farmers' confidence in the Commission getting up to the mark is not high. For two years in a row it reneged on its commitments on price supports for skimmed milk powder. Also, the support agreed in the previous CAP was withdrawn for two years running.

The Minister said that a pause button has been pressed by many in the agrifood sector. Unfortunately, this option is not available to the dairy sector, where volumes are increasing. Owing to a good spring, the volume of milk produced this year will be up significantly on 2018. I am aware that the Minister visited a processor in my county yesterday, which has plans in place for significant investment. Another co-operative in the county is doing likewise. As I said, the pause button is not an option in this sector.

The Minister also spoke about damage limitation. Damage limitation is not good enough. The beef sector is in crisis. The proposed intervention supports for beef will be inadequate. It will be a doomsday scenario if we have to rely on these intervention price supports. References to pause buttons and damage limitation is not good enough. We need to know what financial assistance will be put in place and at what price level the intervention will be set. The critical question is at what price level will the intervention be set in these scenarios?

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