Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We had statements yesterday evening on this. Clearly, the anger at the picket lines at the factory gates has not abated. Many have spoken about the issue, at the core of which is the price. The base price is what they are talking about. While I accept the notion that the producer organisations comprise a route to deal with this, it will be difficult for every farmer to have that route. It is untested and untried. The producer organisations have been in existence in the country for many years. During all these years, the entire emphasis has been on cutting input costs, with a view to coming together to buy diesel, fertiliser and grain more cheaply, not to increase the price for their end product. That has been the experience. I hope that this experience will change under the new model.

As Deputy Ferris said, the general view of many of the farmers is that the farm organisations have let them down, that they have not been active enough on this, and that they have allowed this problem to grow for the past 20 years or more. Many years ago, when there were small abattoirs and factories around the country, farmers were in a much stronger position. There has been consolidation into the hands of a small few. It appears, and there is great evidence to suggest, that the small few work together to manipulate the price to their own advantage and to the disadvantage of the primary producer, the farmer.

The motion is dealing with many of these issues. I commend Deputy McConalogue and Fianna Fáil on bringing forward this motion. It is really about getting to grips with the problem and highlighting the true need to resolve it. The resolution will come with the recognition that the system is broken. The current model does not work. It only works for the small handful in control of the situation. They have engaged in manipulation over many years to bring it to this. If we recognise that the system does not work and is broken, and while this has probably been more recognised than resolved in negotiations, we now have to reach a position in which we can ask what the new system will be like. What new procedures can be put in place for the Irish farm family? Many such families around where I live have 15 or 20 suckler cows. They need to see a future. They depend on the farmer who will fatten the calves and sell them to the factory in order to get a decent price. If this does not happen, they will also go out of business. There is a knock-on effect. I do not need to tell that to the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle; he is aware of it.

One cannot sort this out unless one accounts for the price and how it is given. At present, we are told it is based on the open market. The flaw of the open market is that it is very often manipulated. A principle of free market economics is that, all things equal and everything fair, the system works very well. Unfortunately, all things are not equal and things are very seldom fair. They are certainly not fair in this situation because it is being manipulated. We are told we are getting the average price like the rest of Europe. Given the quality of the product Irish farmers produce, they do not deserve that price; they deserve at least 20% above it because they are producing a premium product. Irish farmers are producing a gold-standard product and getting a bog-standard price. The price is the key. Some will of course say we are over-producing beef and that there are too many cattle. There may be some legitimacy to this argument, and it needs to be examined, but it does nothing for the farmer who has 20 or 30 bullocks to sell and who cannot make a living. Telling him he is going to make less in the future is not an answer. If we are to say it is about producing less, the price will have to go up even more. That is the challenge we have set ourselves.

I accept the Minister was at the talks and worked very hard on the days he was present but at the end of it all he should not be the ringmaster trying to sort this out. The Minister has to play a role and step in. The Government has to be seen to be exercising the firm hand of regulation to ensure fair play. In this case, the Government has to be standing clearly on the side of the farmer. If one is to stand on the side of the farmer, one has to stand up for finding a way to deliver a proper price. If this is to happen, the Government needs to find an appropriate mechanism. Everyone will say it is illegal and that it cannot be done but we have heard that before about many things. A bit of inventiveness got around it. If a bit of inventiveness were applied in this case, we could get around the problem also. A means would be found to get a proper price for the farmer, ensuring that as we move into the future, the small family farm and beef sector can survive. The processors are needed by the farming community. We all need each other in this. This ought to be recognised.

Brexit is coming at us like a steam train. We do not know what will happen because we export such a large proportion of our beef to Britain. We do not know what the position will be in two months so it is crucial that this issue be sorted not in the coming weeks but the in coming days. This is why I suggest that the Government needs to go back in and work out a solution. Farmers have said that if they can get a base price, of up to €3.80 per kilogramme, they are prepared to come off the picket. If that happened now, we could see some progress. We need to see the Government stepping in and working on behalf of the farmer. The farmer is the one with his back to the wall in this situation. The big processors are very powerful and have very deep pockets. They can withstand this; the farmers cannot.

I know many farmers around the country who have cattle ready to go but who cannot get them into the factory. They are very worried. They do not want to be seen to be going against those at the factory gate. They truly stand with them but, at the same time, they have cattle ready to go. Some of the cattle are over 30 months. The farmers have to keep feeding them and they are losing money doing so. Right now, the Government needs to employ a firm hand with the processors and deliver the base price for the farmers.

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