Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

He certainly is. It is unfortunate the Minister of State did not attend the audiovisual room the other day when he was here discussing what was before us in regard to this Bill. The Minister of State would have found out a lot more.

Farmers are under attack from all quarters. First, the Government is targeting deep cuts to farmers’ ability to earn a living through climate action reductions and an inadequate CAP programme. Second, banks and vulture funds continue to seize and sell off family farms all over the country, with Government policy stacked in favour of these institutions. We have observed at first hand the destruction and crippling impact that these vultures have caused to families and rural communities. That is why we have brought forward this imaginative new Bill.

This would not be possible without the exceptional and invaluable contribution of the Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan. His first-hand knowledge of the difficulties faced by farm families and his exceptional legal expertise have been instrumental in the publication of this Bill. The Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan, has himself stated that the new world of banking is not geared towards agricultural lending. It is simply that the banks do not get agriculture and their business model will not allow it. Between banking as we know it and agriculture as we now know it, there is a grave mismatch and it is farmers and their families who are the losers in the process. This Bill provides an approach to credit and impaired credit which is sui generis, or of its kind, and unique to the farm enterprise.

The Bill is an invitation to all stakeholders to engage in a searching reappraisal of the current dysfunction in the banking model as it applies to Irish agriculture. Naturally, the usual gang of anonymous and highly paid banking lobbyists will beat a path to the door of any Minister who might appreciate a briefing on the measures in this Bill in a desperate attempt to block or delay open discussion and to protect the interests of the banks. Instead, we invite all of those individuals and institutions to come on record and direct their observations to the committee of the Oireachtas, where they can be subject to constructive analysis. After all, it would be nice for once to hear a Minister undertaking to put on the record of the House a full record of all comments he receives from front-door or back channels when it comes to this Bill.

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