Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I also welcome the motion and the debate is needed. As the Minister and many people in the Gallery will know, I have been perceived to be anti-farmer at times, which I vehemently deny. I have been very critical of Government policy, which has led to many problems for farmers. I believe we are overproducing. I believe the emissions from the dairy and beef herd are an issue. Increasing the dairy herd by close to 50% has, of course, had a knock-on effect on the beef cattle numbers. Too many cattle need to be killed every week and there is an oversupply. There is no control on it; there is no measure. The Government could play an active role in putting a measure on it. Farmers can pay big money in a mart for a six or seven-month old calf from a suckler cow, but they have no idea how much they will get for it at the end. There is very little measure of what is going on.

Farming is probably our only indigenous industry and it is really important to protect it. Protecting it means changing the direction in which we have been going. We need to diversify more. Some Fianna Fáil Deputies spoke about the suckler herd, which is the bread and butter of farming in Ireland. I know many small farmers in my area who depend on it for their livelihood. However, people seem to be driven out of it and towards the dairy side. We know that efficient finishers, the ones who convert feed into meat weight, are not the ones coming from the dairy calves, but from the suckler cows. Our industry was built on it. The Government is ignoring the suckler cow farmers, who are generally the smaller farmers and the ones getting the most help are the ones who least need it, namely, the big dairy farmers.

I do not understand why there has not been more thought as to the direction we are taking. The Fianna Fáil motion also deals with the additional imports from South America. At a European level it would be crazy for Ireland to allow South American or US meat to come into Europe, to come into Ireland.

I was told by a Munster wholesale meat supplier about some of it being brought in illegally on a boat into Cork 18 months ago with the identities of the meat being cut off, which is something about which we should be very worried. There is no comparison between meat produced here and meat produced in South America and in the US. I would be wary that such meat would get into Europe eventually, which would be a disaster not only for our farming sector but for our health.

I know many reasonably small farmers who have gone into the dairy sector. The banks have pushed money on them but when problems arise the same banks will quickly look for that money back or for the land security. Many small farmers have gone into the dairy sector or expanded their dairy herds, gone into great debt and it has not been a wise decision. The Government has a much more positive role to be played in this area. There must be some control over it. We cannot keep over-producing. We must have some control over exactly what we produce. There must be more protection and more Government interest in the suckler herd end of farming. It is obvious the number of small farmers have been declining for many years. Government policy can change that. If it does not do anything about it, the number of small farmers will further decline.

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