Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I join other Deputies in expressing sympathies to the families of all those who have passed during the pandemic and in paying tribute to all essential workers.

Compared with education, health or housing, food is rarely thought of as being an area of public policy, but it is. It has taken this crisis for many people to realise the importance of our food producers and retail workers. It has forced us to ask where our food comes from and it has exposed our vulnerability in terms of food security. The flour shortage became a bit of a joke for some people looking to bake their way through the crisis, but it shows that many have been surprised to learn how much we rely on imports for basics such as flour, fruit and vegetables. Even the majority of our potatoes come from abroad.

When we rely so heavily on imports, we leave ourselves exposed to disruptions that are completely out of our hands, such as this crisis or Brexit. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has warned of disruptions to supply chains. Closer to home, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers Association has pointed to our flour shortage, and a fresh outbreak of avian flu is causing an egg shortage. We have seen the impact that panic buying and stockpiling is having on food banks. The Committee on World Food Security has stressed the importance of strengthening government management of food markets, yet in many areas Ireland is a net importer of food. Central Statistics Office figures show that we import more seafood, milk, cereals, vegetables and fruit than we export.

The Government needs to take an active role in transforming our agriculture sector to ensure it is balanced and capable of producing the food we need. This emergency and future emergencies demand that food systems move towards a more self-sufficient model. Small change is not enough. It is time for transformative and systemic change. It will not be easy. Our food system is so complicated, as is the global one of which it is a part, with competing priorities such as consumer preferences, carbon footprint, animal welfare, economics and biodiversity, that there are inevitable conflicts.

What lessons can we learn from this situation? If we had known five years ago that this crisis was going to occur, how would we have prepared better for it? What we grow and eat is the result of our political choices. We know that, unfortunately, there will be more hard times like this as a result of Brexit and the climate and biodiversity crises. The bottom line is that families need access to healthy and affordable balanced diets, and farmers and other producers need to be able to earn a living.

With this mind, I ask the Minister what plans the Department would put in place to prepare for future potential disruptions to international food supply chains and end the country's reliance on imported fresh produce. What steps would the Minister take to expand our capacity to produce our own fruit and vegetables instead of importing produce that could be grown here? Throughout this crisis, we have heard politicians referring to taking expert advice, something I think we all agree is a great call, but it is not just during a pandemic. We talk about achieving a balance between a fair price for food producers, a fair wage for those who work in the food industry and a fair price for consumers.

Experts have advised that, where possible, shortening the supply chain between producers and consumer is vital which is why I, like many others, was shocked at the closure of farmers' markets. Just like supermarkets, they are essential food retail outlets. After I drew attention to this, people were in touch with me from Cork, Waterford, Limerick and beyond, seeking their immediate reopening. Thriving markets in west Cork and nationwide create supply chains that help us secure food sovereignty and attract thousands of tourists. Many market traders are small-scale producers with extremely tight operating margins who rely on the markets with direct access to customers taking out the so-called middle man. Before closure, markets showed great ingenuity in enabling social distancing and responsible transactions. Initiatives like NeighbourFood have helped connect consumers and producers during this time but what rural communities really need is a return to weekly markets. Bearing all this in mind, I ask the Minister to ensure that farmers' markets will be allowed to reopen as soon as possible as forms of essential retail outlets. Like everybody here today, I ask him to enable allotments to reopen at the same time as sources of small-scale food production.

Respecting workers is fundamental to a sustainable food model. In the recent Keelings controversy ,the media focused on the spread of the coronavirus but the incident highlights a broader issue within the food industry, namely, the treatment of workers. Although the jobs were advertised, it was not economically viable it seems for local people to take them. This is typical of the sector. Ireland, like the UK and other countries, relies on international, seasonal and temporary workers who are often treated poorly. This situation is even worse in the developing world where agricultural workers are subjected to horrendous abuse and exploitation. We need an agrifood system that can support families and communities, both in west Cork and Ireland and globally. To give us all confidence that the food we consume originates from a fair and just system, can the Minister instruct the Department to play a more active role in ensuring that the food produced in Ireland and imported here has been produced ethically? Bearing in mind that tomorrow is International Workers' Day, what measures are in place nationally and on a European level to ensure the protection of the rights of workers whether permanent, temporary or migrant, during the Covid-19 emergency?

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