David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The farmers who are on the picket lines at the moment are not the big ranchers. They are not the farmers that are running the factory farms or feedlots; they are small farmers who run family farms and graze their cattle outdoors. It is the type of farming that we should encourage as it produces the high quality beef a lot of us eat and that is sold around the world because of its quality. I get a real sense of injustice from the farmers I meet on the picket line. I also met some of the leaders of the groups off the picket lines to discuss their issues. They are also taken aback and not pleased with some of the narrative around the protests that the farmers are protesting in a militant way. They are just people who want to provide for their families, who are reasonably standing up for themselves and their families and who are not getting a fair price for what they produce. They are not even getting a price that is necessary to allow them to do what they want to do. It is simply becoming unviable for many farmers. That is made all the worse when they are up against the big beef barons. When I was in college I heard in debates in this House about the big beef barons who had connections with very senior politicians. The big beef barons are still there and they are still running the show. They are very powerful individuals and they are squeezing the farmers dry. It is the family farmers who are being squeezed dry by those individuals.

I know a lot of people who work in the factories. I have every sympathy for all of the people who have been laid off, who are being treated as pawns. They are being used by some of the big beef barons as well because they want to use them as pawns. Most of them are on very low pay. We might say we have a difficult job but I know a lot of people who work in the meat processing plants and it is a very difficult job, which they do for very low pay. There is anti-trade union practices in some of the companies as well. They are the people we are dealing with and they are the people farmers are unfortunately having to go up against. Deputy Stanley is correct: there is a monopoly or a sense of a monopoly at play here. We have a responsibility to deal with that.

We all know that the ingredient for the resolution of any conflict, protest or dispute is, in the first instance, negotiation and that people are around the table. There must also be a level playing field without preconditions. In addition, there must be a sense of fair play and that there will be a fair outcome from the talks for the farmers. Despite the fact that some farming organisations have signed up to the deal, while farmers recognise there has been some progress, which is without a doubt, they still do not believe there has been fair play. That is a problem for all of us, not for one party or for the Government, because we collectively have to make sure that we do our best for the farmers who want to produce the food and the beef that some but not all of us consume and the produce that is sold around the world and creates jobs in many areas.

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