Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

And 290,000 calves. That is the story. Then, we had people bellowing and roaring that they wanted us to provide subsidies so they could export calves, the very same crowd who were buying calves down the south for €2 or €4.

They then wanted a subsidy and extra lairage. Imagine having the neck to come into a committee and ask for that. I know of many rural shops that are closing, and they do not ask for subsidies. They employ many people but did not get many subsidies or much sympathy from anybody here. Let us be clear about a few things. How dare anybody come looking for subsidies. They are getting calves for nothing and then they want somebody to subsidise them to go abroad. God bless us. It is horrible stuff.

This is a perfect storm. Just look at what is happening regarding the CAP payment. We will lose €12 billion. Apart from Brexit, there are other factors. There is a €12 billion hole that has to be filled. That will be single farm payments. Ireland has indicated, through the Taoiseach and the Minister, that we will play our part, but other countries, the four big ones, are resisting. There is not a word of capitulation from them yet, that they will help fill in the deficit, and that will mean further trouble. Then we have the Mercosur deal hanging there. There are the climate change issues as well as the supermarket retailers. We had better be careful here. I keep telling every farmer - I spoke at a fairly big meeting a few weeks ago - that out of every ten calves produced, nine must be exported and only one is eaten at home. That includes the Pat McDonaghs and the seven big retailers, the multiples. That is all that is eaten at home. I want to go after the retailers and get them in here, but they refuse. In 2010 I was Chairman of the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They refused to come before the committee to explain themselves. The processors, Mr. Goodman, ABP, Dawn Meats and all the others, are private unlimited companies, so we do not know what they are doing or how much money they are making. It is the same with the retailers, the big multiples, so nobody knows. That is the big problem and the reason Jim Power has done a study and thinks it is 40% to 45%, the difference between the take from them - the primary producer, the retailer and the processor. The processor says the farmer is getting 65%. The primary producer, the farmer, says he is only getting 20%. Nobody knows anything. It is all guesstimate work, and when we get that transparency and a price regulator in place, then we will know. We have been calling for that for many years, but it is probably not that easy. Do not tell me about the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. If there is a little business somewhere, it will find some method of ensuring that it drags it before the appropriate courts. I was on a committee in 2010 and 2011 with Ned O'Keeffe and so on. We actually hired a master's degree student to try, under darkness, to investigate whether there was a cartel. My view is that if it looks like a cartel and walks like one, it has to be one.

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