Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome this discussion. We have a crisis in agriculture. It is real in terms of the impact on the environment and on the farmers' livelihoods and for the reason outlined by Deputy Niall Collins. He made an interesting observation in pointing out that years ago, a discussion on farming would have seen the Chamber full but there are very few Deputies present for this debate. The reason is that many of our small farmers have been driven to the wall. Farming families have had to pack up in essence because the big guy dominates and the numbers are down. We need to address this crisis and to put measures in place. In that sense, I very much welcome this discussion.

As Deputy Wallace said, there are many problems. One of them is a crisis of over-production. What is happening is ridiculous. We have so much stock piling up that the meat processors have said cold storage capacity in Ireland is critically short. As other Deputies have said, if there is a hard Brexit, or any Brexit for that matter, our beef surplus will increase. It is crazy that we are talking about an industry with hundreds of thousands of tonnes of beef and nowhere for it to go. That is wrong on so many levels.

There are a couple of solutions to it. The first is to produce less beef. Such an approach is not anti-farmer, rather it is pro-humanity and pro-farmer. It is not saying we would lead the farmers into the wilderness, rather it is saying we must put alternatives in place to allow them secure their livelihood in a more sustainable way. I have no problem with the Taoiseach's remarks about eating less beef. I am a vegetarian. My daughter is a vegan and I am seriously considering being a vegan. There are many agricultural products that come from plants. That approach is not anti-farmer. We have to develop a better way of looking at things.

It is a fact that agriculture accounts for a staggering one third of Ireland's national greenhouse gas emissions. They are going up when they should be going down. Contrary to the Minister's statements, we are not the most carbon efficient dairy producer in Europe. From statistics published last year, we are one of the most carbon intensive beef producers and the third most intensive diary producer. As the Minister's colleague, the Minister for Communications, Climate Change and Environment, has said, this could end up costing all of us €5.5 billion in fines by 2030 if the Government does not take serious action. It is in everybody's interest that we address this problem to support the livelihood of farmers.

Another way in which the Minister could deal with the over-production is to assist farmers in opening up new markets. We had this discussion yesterday with respect to the problems being experienced with a lucrative market in Iran that is crying out for Irish beef because of all of the faults with Iranian beef. The Minister told us yesterday that the market is open but he seemed to imply that the problem did not lie with the Government but with the farmers. He said the market is open but it has to be more rewarding. Obviously selling to Iran, which is a very developed market, is much more rewarding than some of the carry-on that is going on here but there are other factors at play here. If the Government was serious in assisting farmers in this respect, it knows what the Iranians want - which is what they have from every other European country that is selling massive amounts of its agricultural products to the benefit of its farmers - which is an embassy on the ground because it allows us to be much more in touch with what is going on there. It is ludicrous that the Minister would suggest that it is somehow the farmers' fault that the market is not open enough when the problems with that market have been readily addressed in other areas and farmers in other states are benefitting very well from that. We should go the extra mile to ensure that our farmers are able to trade in that market. To me, the onus is much more on the Government than on the farmers.

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