Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I was elected to this Dáil in 2016 and I have brought up the plight of the beef farmers throughout this country since then and, indeed, before then. We have a crisis mainly because successive Governments protected those inside the factory gates. In doing so, they forgot the man and woman on the farm who put in so much work to put meat on the tables of this country. Since 2016 and before, no one listened and now we have a crisis above all proportion and many people are staring ruination in the face.

There are 80,000 beef farmers in this country. It is estimated that if any of these farmers goes out of business, it will lead to a loss of €30,000 to his or her rural community which will, in turn, lead to further closures of creameries, shops, pubs and contractors in that rural community. The crisis we have at the factories today could well have been avoided if we had been listened to. Now we are where we are.

The Minister has been telling these farmers to go home for the past month. The factories have been telling them to go home or they will take legal action against them. It has been a case of David versus Goliath. Instead of the Minister coming down to factories such as the one in Bandon and talking to these God-fearing, honest farmers, he continued to taunt them. I know that because I have met and spoken to these honest-to-God men and women every day since this peaceful protest began. They are suffering, working at a loss and cannot continue. They cannot pay their contractors because everyone is creaming off the animal the farmers sell but they are getting the least money. The factories are creaming off it and are untouchable. The large retailers are creaming off these farmers and cannot be touched. The Minister was not able to get these people around the table for the past month. The factories called the shots and would not make a serious effort to bring about a successful solution. Instead they have been hiding behind rules and regulations made by successive Governments and put in place to protect them. In doing so, these Governments sold the farmers right down the swanny.

The negotiations last weekend could have started at least two weeks ago. The farmers called off the protest outside the factories at that time. There was a lot of talk but the power of the large retailers and factories made sure this would not work. This was a serious breach of trust as far as all the farmers who were protesting outside the gates were concerned.

In my view, bilateral discussions were not the way to go about resolving this dispute. Everyone should have been brought around the table. The farming organisations should have gone back to their members on the ground before they accepted the deal that was struck last weekend. Their members outside the factory gates last Sunday night were furious because, under the agreement, we will continue to see farmers making a loss on animals they are selling. The farming organisation should have gone back to its members and discussions should have continued to look at issues such as the 30-month age condition and any other issue that is causing major problems for farmers today.

The base price needs to be increased. This should have been ironed out last weekend and must be dealt with immediately if we are to get solutions for this crisis. The farmers outside the factory in Bandon and every other factory in the country have had enough. They do not trust the factories or the Minister and have told me that. They are not happy with the Leader of the Opposition, Deputy Micheál Martin, because of his continued silence on this crisis for Irish farmers. They want this dispute resolved. They are reasonable men and women, as was proved when the Chinese delegation came to Bandon a couple of weeks ago and there was an honest agreement by all protestors to allow them in unhindered. That proved that these are reasonable people but they have been abandoned by successive Governments.

Where is the Taoiseach on this issue? He did not listen to us over the past number of years and now we are where we are. It is time for the Minister to wake up and resolve this crisis immediately because these farmers are near the edge and the Minister must protect them.

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