Brian Stanley (Laois, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been a 41% decline in the number of people employed since 2011. The Minister referred to increases in output, turnover and everything else. However, there is a problem with the level of profitability. Desperate farmers have protested in the city for the past two days because they are unable to make a living. Their margins have been slashed.

We need a new strategy which gives farmers a sustainable income, as well as some kind of decent future and security. They have a major role to play in a number of different areas and I do not see a sense of urgency from the Government in terms of creating new income streams for farmers and allowing them to get involved with schemes to produce renewable energy. An area in which we need to make progress is on-farm forestry, something I will come to in another question. There will be major regulatory difficulties for some small plantations with regard to harvesting.

We need reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. While we all accept that output has increased - the figures are there in black and white – farmers' margins are not sufficient to allow them to sustain themselves through farming.

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