John Brassil (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the issue and I welcome the those with a farming interest who are in the Gallery.

Irrespective of whether we have a hard Brexit, soft Brexit or indeed no Brexit, the beef industry is in crisis and action needs to be taken. Along with my colleagues in Kerry, I have attended various meetings of the Beef Plan Movement. We have attended lobbying events by the IFA. The issue has been creeping up over recent years. If an industry was in such a crisis with the potential loss of €1 billion to the Irish economy, task forces would be set up, state aid would be provided and all sorts of interventions would be made, but unfortunately we are pulling and dragging through this crisis. We need action now.

As my colleagues have pointed out, the quality payments system is no longer fit for purpose. New markets, such as the Chinese market, are not coming on stream. Licences are still pending and not being done quickly enough. Issues such as the four-movement rule, the 70-day retention and the age limits of 30 months for steers and heifers and 16 months for bulls are all contributing to the crisis and yet not enough action is being taken. Other practices and regulations requiring review are the nomad rule, the 125 km category 1 waste transport rule, factory-owned and controlled feedlots, and beef processors having access to farmer data. There is still no payment for the fifth quarter, which is worth approximately €200 to the processors, and yet the producer is not getting a cent of it. We need to tackle all those issues now to address the crisis that is on top of us.

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