Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

My objective has always been to provide the maximum level of support to Irish beef farmers. My track record, whether on additional payments under areas of natural constraint, the beef environmental scheme or the beef data genomics scheme, speaks for itself. It is a particularly income-challenged sector. While we cannot intervene on the price paid for commodities to farmers, we have some liberty to deliver income supports in other ways and that is what we have been about. The case we made to the Commission is on the Department's website. It is that from the back end of 2018 into the spring of 2019, there was a prolonged period of price depression for Irish beef, which arose in particular from sterling shifts and our exposure to the UK market. I note our previous experience with the Commission, including in relation to the dairy support measure of 2016. Interventions by the Commission come with terms and conditions attached and we make the effort to ensure the Department and the agriculture community are in a position to live within those terms and conditions. In that context, we will engage in the coming days with farm organisations and devise a scheme for submission to the Commission by the end of July. My objective has been to get the money to farmers at the earliest possible date and I am convinced we can do so.

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