Dáil debates

Thursday, 21 October 2021

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Agriculture Industry

10:10 am

Photo of Rose Conway-WalshRose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Despite the achievements to date, there is still a clear trend for an ever-increasing share of intensive farming driving out the family farms. That is what we are concerned about in the west of Ireland. The other clear trend over the past number of years is for beef prices to get ever lower. The Minister might say for a moment in time, they have increased, but the continued growth of the factory feedlot presents an existential threat to the Irish beef product. Consumers from all over the world buy it because of the image of the cows and farmers in fields, as has been mentioned, and that type of farming.

If the beef produced in this country continues to come from the factory feedlots, so too will that image and that will damage us in the long term.

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