Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are at a crossroads in terms of the agricultural sector. On the one hand, we have Food Wise 2025, which followed on from Harvest 2020, while on the other hand, we have climate action groups and the possibility of a no-deal Brexit. Tonight we are here to ensure that rural Ireland does not lose out. That means fighting for support for family farms, especially those in the beef sector. I welcome the Beef Plan representatives in the Gallery this evening, supported by the IFA. Their presence shows the level of concern among farmers about this issue.

I join my party's spokesman, Deputy McConalogue and many other contributors in urging the Minister to implement the 14 policy actions contained in the motion that has been accepted by the Government to ensure the continued viability of the beef sector. The Minister should not do what his predecessor, Deputy Coveney, did when the tillage sector was in crisis. He suggested then that tillage farmers should convert to other farming practices. Farmers do not call for subsidies every year. They only look for intervention every so often. The tillage sector has shown clearly that prices go up and down and that the market is volatile. We must acknowledge that volatility in every sector of agricultural practice.

The Minister is good at going abroad as part of trade delegations and coming back with deals. The next time he goes abroad on such a trade delegation he should take some containers with him. We seem to be only selling the samples and there is very little follow up. I am open to being corrected but it seems to me that some of the agreements reached with countries in the Far East have yet to come to fruition. We need more and faster practical action. I also ask the Minister to make export credit insurance more viable in the context of north African countries so that live animal exports to that region can be increased.

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