Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

A European trading agreement must cover all. Farming needs investment, not cuts, especially where I live in Limerick. Farmers are out in all weather and conditions 365 days of the year. They must maintain their stock. Dairy farmers must get a minimum of 26 cent per litre of milk to be viable. Harsh weather conditions and flooding mean that cattle have been brought indoors earlier than expected.

That means fodder is now going down and if they have to buy fodder, it is expensive. Farmers do not need cuts from Europe; they need more funding. Beef farmers are in the hands of the factories in regard to what they get paid for their produce, which is wrong. If beef farmers lose an animal, they have lost their profit for the year, yet people who go into a hotel or a restaurant pay premium prices for any type of beef or other meat. Again, the person at the end of the chain is the person supplying the food. Everyone in this Chamber eats their produce. Milk, cheese, bread and everything else comes from the farming sector yet farmers are the worst off, especially those who have small landholdings and have to work part-time to keep the farms which have been in their families for generations.

We are the best country in the world for looking after people's culture but we now need to look after our own culture as well. Our farming communities are the ones who have kept food on our tables and kept us fed, through all conditions. We need to invest in farming. A scheme was rolled out in January of this year to improve the position following the catastrophe last year, when calves could not be sold, especially Friesians, because they were making no money. People were giving them away and they were not being taken. A calf investment scheme was introduced but while it was supposed to be rolled out in January to help the farming community, it still has not been rolled out. The calving season is nearly over but farmers have been put under pressure after all the commitments that were given that they would get help this year. Again, it is a failure.

We need to invest in the next generation, invest in our cultures and invest in infrastructure in rural areas. It is not city-based or town-based; it is the whole of Ireland that has to be looked after. We need to invest if we want Ireland to go forward for all of the generations. I come from a farming background. Farming has raised me and my family members. If the farming community is doing well, they invest locally in shops, in machinery and in upskilling on their farms, and they put money into infrastructure within the area. This deal has to favour rural Ireland; it has to favour our farming community. People talk about big farmers but a big farmer has big investments and has to get the staff to work the farm. If we have a harsh winter with low fodder or flooding, it puts farmers under pressure. In all of the guidelines that have been put in place, down to hedge cutting and putting slurry out on a field, everything has been regulated to make it harder and harder for farming communities to work.

We need to look forward. Everyone in this country, no matter who they are, needs to be looked after through a holistic approach. Common sense will have to prevail. Regulations will have to be relaxed to help communities in rural Ireland, including rural Limerick. All of the schemes and regulations in our areas, whether for educational or environmental issues, are set out to close down rural Ireland. When people sit down at their tables tonight to have something to eat, they should think where the produce is coming from. When they look out the window and see rain, snow or harsh conditions, they should think where the food is coming from. No matter whether somebody is a vegan or otherwise, all of their food is produced in rural Ireland, which should be looked after. What I want today is a commitment from all of the people in government that we will holistically look after the whole of Ireland and stop making regulations and stipulations which are closing us down.

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