Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Pringle and the Independent Group for bringing this motion forward. It is one of those rare occasions when one can agree with almost everything that is being said in this room from the point of view that there is a responsibility on the Government to deal with the INHFA. A number of us have been contacted by it and other farming organisations. It is a lack of trust that they have. It is these protections that they demand. All of them are talking about it. We cannot create a situation where we have even more non-viable family farms. Family farms are an absolute intricate part of rural living in Ireland and we need to protect them.

I thought the whole idea of CAP was twofold - to protect family farms, particularly so that we can produce high-grade food to the highest specification, and that GAEC would be absolutely guaranteed. Deputy Carthy, in particular, has spoken about the inequalities that exist in CAP. He has said that we have to go back and negotiate better to deliver for the people who live on and derive their business from farms and the rest of us who get the benefit of that. We need to ensure that is done.

It is beyond doubt that we cannot have a differentiation in types of land. We cannot have a situation where farmers will be unable to use that land into the future and will not get the benefit of payments that are required to ensure we maintain viable family farms and a top-class food supply.

In fairness, I would like to reiterate the point Deputy Connolly made about farmers. We had the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill yesterday and an element of what is missing is partnership. Along with Deputy Carthy, when he was still a jet-setting MEP, I attended an eye-opening IFA regional meeting in Monasterboice. A group of people who were there started talking about the moves that would need to be made as regards agriculture and farms to deal with the climate crisis. They are up for that conversation. There is an absolute need for the Government to have that conversation and to deliver a roadmap for something that is sustainable for all of us. It needs to be done as soon as possible.

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