Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Thousands of people depend on farming in Ireland, including the 6,000 farms in my own county of Clare. If this were a normal year, we would be expecting farm exports such as dairy and meat, etc., to be netting €14 billion for this country and feeding a worldwide population of 40 million. That is where we would be aiming to be at. We have had to look very much inward now because there will be many shortages ahead for Ireland, not just in fuel but probably on the supermarket shelves as well. It is the farmers who have always stepped up to that mark across each generation.

I really welcome the €12 million intervention and the tillage and multi-species swards initiative. It has been welcomed by much of the farming sector. When I leave the Dáil today, I will go back home to County Clare to our home farm environment. When I did my green certificate in Pallaskenry agricultural college, we were told about reseeding, discing, liming and testing. I do not know whether that will benefit people in County Clare who have the traditional grasses. We do not have much perennial rye or timothy grasses down there. I do not know whether this will this benefit the west of Ireland counties where the soils are a bit heavier and where we have traditional meadow grass. I do not know if that initiative will benefit all. Are discussions going on in Europe to have a European-wide response to this?

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