Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, contacted me directly to let me know he is attending a Council of Ministers meeting in Europe and that he could not be here this evening. I appreciate that. Only last night, I engaged with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, to emphasise again that the proposal submitted by the IFA, the meat processors and the Irish Grain and Feed Association, IGFA, must be considered, finalised and implemented by the Department. The sector's proposal has well outlined the difficulties, which have been well researched, and where Government funding could be provided. Equally importantly, the proposal outlines the contribution these stakeholders themselves will make.

This is an immediate crisis. The Department may refer to facilities within the banks, through the different Brexit-related funds etc. but the banks are not entertaining some pig producers. I fear the smaller-scale producers will get less of a hearing from our financial institutions than bigger producers. The sector has seen major rationalisation over the years and we do not want to lose any more producers. This is a sophisticated sector. The Minister of State referred to it as being a resilient sector, and it has been. We are all aware that different sectors in farming face cyclical problems over the years arising from the weather and market distortions or disturbances. The pigmeat sector specifically, however, has always ensured more cyclical problems than any other sector in farming or the agrifood industry.

When I was in government and dealing with the pork dioxin issue in 2008, the public finances faced particular challenges but we put a significant amount of funding into dealing with that issue to ensure we continued to have a pigmeat sector here. It was a good investment by the Government. We did not delay in making that decision. We decided quickly, we put the financial support in place and we saved that sector. In the meantime, there has been a great return on that investment made by the Government in 2008. Equally importantly, we ensured that the good name of the Irish agrifood sector internationally was maintained. We must ensure that continues now and that we do not run into any animal welfare issues.

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