Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is a crisis in the beef industry. Beef farmers are at the pin of their collar in selling their produce below cost. We know that no business is sustainable when selling below cost. We have heard false promises about the loan scheme which has taken almost two years to come to fruition. Meanwhile farmers in counties Cavan and Monaghan and across the country are going under. The Government has ignored the plea of farmers and been asleep at the wheel, while profitable untapped markets such as Holland and Spain have been completely ignored. Brexit has already affected farmers and factories are exploiting the critical situation in which beef farmers find themselves by manipulating the crisis and using Brexit as an excuse for putting farmers out of business.

The Minister has failed utterly on the issue of calf exports. Options are available to him to put in place infrastructure to address the issue, but he has been asleep at the wheel and done nothing to help hard-pressed farmers who are struggling to survive. He must secure additional funding for the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, programme and achieve a suckler cow support programme, with €200 per cow. There is severe market disturbance afoot for farmers who are not even breaking even. Instability exacerbates the situation and the Government is doing nothing to secure or create a stable future for the industry. We are on the cusp of D-Day for Brexit and it is unforgivable that, at this late stage, there are no supports in place for farmers. Brexit poses one of the biggest ever threats to the beef sector, suckler cow farmers, exports and related jobs, given that almost 50% of our beef exports go to the United Kingdom. Farmers are losing money hand over fist and losing heart in the industry.

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