Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. It is unfortunate that the Dáil was not in session in recent weeks and that this is our first opportunity, but nonetheless a welcome one, to discuss it. Fianna Fáil will table a Private Members’ motion on this matter tomorrow. It is essential that what has happened since the protests began on 28 July must be seen as a watershed with regard to the position of farmers and the respect they get for the work they carry out. Farmers have been trampled on for too long.. They have not been listened to or respected. They have consistently been obliged to put up with a situation whereby they have been the price takers while all others along the food supply chain have been able to set prices and continue with their margins. This issue has been bubbling up for years because the prices and the margins farmers have been getting have been consistently eroded to the extent that they cannot see a future for themselves in the sector unless things change. We must ensure that there is fair play for them. They feel they have been totally let down by meat processors in recent years. The fact that there is no clarity as to what margins farmers get for the work they carry out in producing beef illustrates the lack of transparency in the sector. We have seen estimates ranging from 20% of the final amalgamated price going to the beef producer, as indicated by the Beef Plan Movement, to an indication from Bord Bia that it could be 60%, to Phelim O’Neill, a very respected markets commentator in Irish Farmers' Journal, indicating, on the basis of his analysis, that it is 50%. The fact there is such a massive range in the percentage of the margin that goes to farmers in terms of the estimates shows the total lack of transparency there is in the system.

Farmers feel, and rightly so, that they have been down by the Government. If we go back to the grain crisis or the fodder crisis, the Government has been unresponsive to farmers and their predicament. The most recent contribution by the Government in the context of the losses endured by farmers in the past year was the €100 million beef emergency aid measure scheme, which was announced in a blaze of glory the week before the local elections as a straightforward compensation scheme. It was sold that way a week prior to polling day only for farmers to hear a week later that it was laden with qualifications and conditions such as the 5% stock reduction. The Government knew the reaction that scheme would have got from farmers if the 5% stock reduction had been outlined prior to polling day. Again, farmers felt they were sold a pup and disrespected. Against that backdrop, it is no surprise that there have been the protests in recent weeks. As others have observed, those protests have achieved a lot. It is now essential that we see an outcome that can be built upon by and that can deliver for farmers.

The response from the Minister in terms of the speed with which talks – either the first round or the second - were put together was not in any way as hands-on as it should have been in view of the gravity of the crisis. The first talks were put together on foot of an announcement made on a Wednesday but they were not scheduled until the following Monday. Likewise, when the second round was being put together, the Minister was much too hands-off in terms of ensuring that the leadership was not divided in order to get people back around the table, which was the only place where the matter could be resolved.

Coming out of the weekend’s talks we have a deal on the table to which the seven farm organisations contributed with six of them are actively advocating it and the seventh – the Independent Farmers of Ireland group - has indicated it is bringing it back to the picket lines. It is essential that we as politicians allow the time and space for the farming organisations to engage fully with their members and with farmers in terms of the merits of that deal. The comments made by the President at the National Ploughing Championships, in which he indicated that this may not be the best solution but that it can certainly be the best beginning, should be reflected upon by people.

It is essential that the case made by farmers be built upon, that the four-movement rule, the residency rule and the 30-month rule, which are key issues for those on the picket lines, be genuinely and properly addressed in the coming months and that the task force will be set up promptly to address the issue of transparency in the beef sector.

The other matter on which we need to see immediate action from the Minister is that relating to the need for additional aid from Europe in respect of the losses experienced in recent months.

The beef exceptional aid measure scheme covers a reference period from September 2018 to May 2019 but the prices since May have been lower than those months covered by the reference period. It is absolutely essential that we see further aid now to compensate farmers for those losses experienced, to assist with the difficult experience they have had and to bring something additional to the table on their behalf.

I will leave it to my colleagues to make their contribution. I certainly hope that we see a change of approach once and for all where farmers are recognised as the foundation of our beef sector, which needs to be respected, needs to have fair play and needs to provide a decent margin and a decent living for the important work it carries out.

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