Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I support the motion on agrifood and rural development. It outlines how the beef sector has been failed repeatedly by the Government in the lack of price transparency and the way the commitment to producer groups, made in the programme for Government, has not been delivered for so long.

I have raised the beef farming issue previously in the Chamber and how the farmers are in such a distressed situation due to falling incomes and increased costs. The 140,000 farming families throughout the State are the engines of the rural economy. They are the people who spend locally in the co-op or the shop. They drive their local economies and they support the rural communities through clubs, schools and community organisations.

Even though so much money is generated in the agrifood sector, it is not there for the farmer to any extent, and especially not for the beef sector farmers, who are averaging €8,000 income per annum, or sheep farmers, who average €14,000 per annum income. They are under phenomenal pressure.

I put it to the Minister of State that farmers really feel treated unfairly and unjustly in that they are not getting value for the huge amount of work they are putting in and for the high-quality product they produce. The beef market task force must meet its timelines and deliver. Farmers should be able to get a share out of the fifth quarter. There must be a CAP market disturbance aid for price losses since the summer.

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