Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Carthy is correct. This is cyclical, but pig farmers have never seen a dip quite as serious. The price of feed is skyrocketing and the price of the product is dipping like never before. Farmers expect the price of the product to stabilise and even come back, but the price of feed shows no sign of decreasing. It is a crisis. The proposed stability fund put to the Minister is what pig farmers see as the very least that is needed to stabilise the industry and enable it to survive. That is how important this is.

It must be remembered that the pig industry does not receive any direct payments from Europe. Many pig farms are family run. They are in this position through no fault of their own. We have seen these interventions in other member states, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland and France, where pig farmers have been provided with a €600 million rescue package. All we are asking for is something that will stabilise the industry. I wish to emphasise that some type of clarity is needed for the industry as soon as possible.

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