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

The Labour Party will support the Fianna Fáil motion. I thank Fianna Fáil for introducing it. We acknowledge the frustration of farmers and workers in meat processing plants. We are particularly concerned about the 6,000 workers laid off to date. Many are on employer-specific work permits so they do not have access to social welfare payments. They have no time to lose in getting the factories back to full operation.

Livestock farmers are facing an unprecedented crisis. The crisis will not end any time soon. Global trade is becoming more protectionist.

That means difficulties for Ireland as an island nation. Brexit, if it happens without a deal, will lead to tariffs and non-EU competition in the British beef market. We will be significantly exposed because more than 50% of our beef is sold in that lucrative market. The EU beef market is already highly competitive. Market prices are low, so Deputies should not try to deceive people by telling them that they will see a massive increase in the market price. The position is the same for market prices across Europe. Let us be clear. I have been studying this in recent months. Prices could be driven lower if the Mercosur agreement allows extra beef into the Single Market. If one tries to sell into a market that produces 102% of what it needs, and which is therefore beyond self-sufficiency, one is in trouble. It is a buyer's market.

Climate change and health concerns are leading some consumers to change their preferences. This is a long-term issue for the wider agricultural industry as well as for the meat industry. Possible changes to the CAP represent another risk for farmers. The UK's contribution of €12 billion will be lost when it falls out of the EU. Chancellor Merkel stated yesterday that she wants the 1.1% of VAT receipts that makes up part of countries' contributions - which is subject to their GDP - to be held at 1%. That will further reduce CAP payments. Although Ireland has committed to an increased contribution, the Dutch and the Belgians are showing significant reluctance. There are many things ahead. We will hopefully get this situation resolved. RTÉ news reports indicate that some promising initiatives are coming forward. Things are beginning to happen. I hope they will continue to happen and that matters will be resolved.

I agree that we have to get the base price but to allow people to think it will be up €4 by tomorrow evening is misleading. It is a solution for now, but there are long-term fundamental structural problems in this area. We will stick a plaster on it; we will mend and fill the old boiler. We will get that done today, but in a few weeks the boiler will be splattering water all over the place. There will be several leaks. That is the equivalent of what will happen in this situation.

Let us be very clear, policy decisions made over the years led to the current impasse. Large companies and conglomerates were allowed to gobble up small competitors uninhibited and to remove any semblance of competition, thereby elevating themselves into a dominant market position from which they could unilaterally dictate prices. They were not just satisfied with owning the pitch, they decided to take over the dressing room by introducing the concept of feedlots, which can be used to manipulate the market to their total advantage.

To add insult to injury, as a result of total political cowardice, they are getting CAP payments. I was one of the few to stand in the barn gap, as they say. Those very corporations are some of the biggest recipients of CAP payments. This adds insult to injury. The sooner somebody has the political balls to cap those payments, the better. CAP payments are going to be very important in the future and they have to be allocated to where they were designed to be allocated, rather than giving a bit to everyone in the audience. No farm organisation can do the allocation. It is about time they realised that they cannot represent the multimillionaire farmer and the poor farmer down the west with 25 or 30 acres. It does not work like that. One reaps what one sows and this is what we are reaping now. Let us cap the payments and cut out this nonsense. It is scandalous. I recall some people who do not employ one person on the land getting large payments. When my grandfather was around, some of those same farms were employing three or four people. Let us be clear about a few things. Let us be honest with one another in here. I am inclined to be honest and this is very important.

I have to mention the BEAM. I spoke a great deal about those measures last evening. I am worried about farmers who have established herd numbers in their own right over recent years. They have been building their stock slowly over time and have not reached their potential stocking rates. They need this BEAM compensation. They are only getting their farm businesses up and running. If they choose to avail of this compensation, however, they have to commit concomitantly to reduce their stock by 5%. That is a nonsense. They are only getting off the ground and the Minister is asking them to reduce their stock by 5%. These people are under 35 and have all kinds of agricultural qualifications. The Minister should go back to the genius who devised the schemes. He or she may never have been out on the ground. The Minister should get him or her to look for a special case or some measure that could be implemented to review the 5% reduction in these cases. It is based on the reference period from July 2018 to June 2019. Their farms are already overstocked. These individuals are only slowly building up so the impact on them is much greater. Will the Minister listen to me please? I am trying to get through to people who have no interest in listening. This has to be examined.

Last evening I referred to the average cattle-rearing farmer earning approximately €8,301. Two thirds of beef farmers earned less than €10,000 last year. The problem with the latter is that the average EU subsidy payment is approximately €13,000. If they were clever, most beef farmers would be better off collecting their subsidy and then mowing their grass and selling it as hay or silage. Some 40 years ago, I worked as an adviser or a consultant and that is what I would have told them to do. They would then make a decent income. They would at least get something out of it. At the moment, the subsidy is just going towards paying the bills and the farmers have absolutely nothing left. They would have more money if they did this, so they would be far better off. I know one has to have a certain number of grazing stock, but rather than seeking to have greater and greater numbers, farmers would be better off trying to deal with things in this way. That is the way it is going because farmers are getting a notorious fleecing. They are producing a product and are not getting compensated for it. This problem is not unique to Ireland. Beef farmers across Europe are either losing money or making only tiny margins.

I again have to exhort people. There are beef markets out there that were very hard-won. Deputy Cahill criticised Bord Bia but I take a different view. That is the essence of democracy; we hold different views. Ms Tara McCarthy stated earlier today that hard-won markets will be lost if this situation persists and that it will be very hard to win them back. Let sense prevail. Beside where I live, where a lot of beef fattening takes place, there are fields full of cattle ready to go. They have now gone over the 30 months and all that nonsense. I was here at the time of the BSE problem. Many of these measures, such as the four-movement rule and the 70-days residency requirement, were brought in at that time, 2001-2002. It is time to alleviate the situation and to move on from some of those measures. I know we have to keep up standards but it could be another contribution towards progress in this regard. I am particularly worried that farmers at home will not be able to move any cattle and that the cattle will build up. Deputy Scanlon was right that only 10,000 or 11,000 cattle were killed last week. There may be none at all this week, or very few. The problem is that there will be a queue of 150,000 or 160,000 animals built up and farmers will get nothing at all for them. The whole thing will become circular and we will be back to where we started, with no resolution. That is the big issue.

The Minister knows how people are feeling. Government cannot resolve this issue on its own. If Deputy McConalogue was sitting in the Minister's seat, I would be saying the same thing. This cannot be solved by the Government alone; everybody has a say. The European Commission will also have to step in to help with the subsidy fund about which the Minister is talking.

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