Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I wish to discuss amendment No. 3 in my name. The fact is that farmers have no control over the price for beef that they get from the market. That is the fundamental issue that led to the beef price crisis during the summer. It must change if we are to have movement and are to address the pickets outside meat plants across the country.

As I stated last night, we need movement on the base price that is paid for cattle. A realistic offer must be made by individual plants. A producer organisation has been established through the Beef Plan Movement. It must now be used as a vehicle for engaging with individual meat plants across the country and agreeing a base price. Even if a base price is agreed, though, farmers are concerned about what there is to prevent movement in that price next week, next month or next year. A minimum base price must be established and then tied into the variation in the European average price for beef. As the House knows, the European Commission publishes a list of the average price paid across Europe for beef and a carcase every week. As with tracker mortgages, there should be a tracker base price for beef. Farmers could then work to get a higher price through bonuses and meeting various criteria. Unless a baseline is put in place, however, we will not have movement on the issues.

In tandem with that, we need to examine some of the fundamental problems in the beef sector. We must establish a distinct brand for certified grass-fed, extensively reared Irish suckler beef. There is an application with the European Commission for EU protected geographical indication status for that very product.

The Government must redouble its efforts to establish that status and, in tandem, establish an individual brand similar to Kerrygold to market that product across Europe and the rest of the world. The big difficulty is that Irish suckler beef is competing with manufacturing beef from the dairy herd. There is domestic price competition in that regard, aside from being able to sell Irish suckler beef as a unique product on international markets. Instead, Irish suckler beef is being used to sell manufacturing beef into international markets. That must change immediately.

Last May, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission recommended to the Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that a dedicated sectoral regulator be established to deal with the unfair trading practices directive coming from Europe and to improve the welfare of farmers. We need to establish an independent regulator for this sector forthwith to protect small Irish family farms. There can be no dithering in this regard.

As I stated in the House last night, there are issues regarding threats issued by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. However, there are tools available to the Government though the commission to look at the beef sector in this country and who is controlling the levers of the sector. Under section 10(4) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Humphreys, may ask the commission to carry out an analysis of the beef market and make recommendations in that regard. That needs to be done immediately.

We will be back here dealing with this issue in the coming years and we will state that the fundamental mistake made in 2019 was the failure to establish a State owned and controlled block chain supply chain for the beef sector. This is new technology which is being employed across the pharmaceutical sector. Someone in Ireland will establish that block chain. If it is not State owned and controlled, it will be used to further abuse the existing significant market share and compound the problem facing Irish farmers. There is a responsibility on the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to bring all of the players together to establish a publicly owned and controlled national beef supply block chain which will increase the value of beef and, more importantly, increase the return available to Irish farmers.

The steps I have outlined will not improve the price of beef tomorrow morning or next week; only movement on the base price will do that. However, if these measures are not taken now, we will regret it. If the measures had been taken in the past, we would not be in the situation we are in today. It is fundamentally important that we address the current crisis and ensure there is a base price and a future for Irish suckler beef.

It is disingenuous to state that we should be reducing the Irish suckler beef herd. I acknowledge that there is an issue in respect of cattle numbers in this country but, as all Members know, those numbers are going askew in the dairy sector, not the suckler beef sector. We need to protect the latter sector. Unless we do, green fields across the country will turn into yellow fields of ragwort and furze. Farmers will, hand over fist, abandon land west of the River Shannon which is not suitable for tillage or dairy production but is providing a sustainable livelihood for many elements of the economy. Unless we are prepared to put gates on the bridges over the River Shannon, we must acknowledge the fundamental importance of the suckler herd and the suckler beef industry. We need to roll up our sleeves and support it for tomorrow, next week and the years to come.

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