Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, what I would have to say in this debate is a simple straightforward fact. Why, if something is not broken, could the Minister not let it alone? What the Minister will do single-handedly in this legislative process was highlighted by the Irish Farmers' Journal. I thank the Irish Farmers' Journalfor the scathing article it wrote, which was very informative. It let the farmers and the people of Ireland know exactly what the Minister is doing in this legislation. What the Minister is doing is attacking a system that was working perfectly well whereby if one goes to a mart or any of the agri-stores, one had small-time providers of medicines, of all the doses and of all the different medicinary items that are needed by farmers. They were providing an excellent service. Now the Minister is attacking their way of living and potentially taking away their livelihood. The Minister is also putting it all over on the veterinarians. Any time the Minister attacks the supply, he is potentially increasing the cost of the goods. That will have a negative effect on farmers at a time when every euro is important and on the service that those people were providing, that is, something else called "credit".

Often a person could be at a mart when he or she might not have the money to pay, but the person dispensing the medicines knew the customer. Those dispensing the medicines knew their farmers were good for it and they would give them a little credit, which would be very important until a cheque would come through, maybe from the mart, for the animals that they were selling on the day. The Minister is interfering with all of that in this and it shows a complete lack of understanding of what the people in the countryside are saying. The farmers are not looking for this. The people providing the veterinarian items are not looking for it. Why, in the name of God, is the Minister doing this?

I come now to look at what the Minister is doing with fertiliser. This new initiative will be a major burden to farmers and merchants. While it is being sold as being about helping farmers maintain their nitrates derogation and monitoring department schemes, in reality it is more about monitoring farmers and beating them into submission to achieve stringent climate targets and ultimately reducing stocking rates. That is what this is actually about. Under this Bill, farmers who do not register for the database will be flagged on the system and reminded to do so. All this would mean is that when ordering fertiliser in the future merchants will be legally required to ask for the farmer's herd number, which must be registered in the national fertiliser database, and any discrepancy will be flagged and addressed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine through inspections, fines and, potentially, court appearances.

What we should be debating tonight is the cost of fertiliser, what farmers have to pay for it, what they have to pay for medicines and how difficult it is to be a farmer in the Ireland of today. Instead, the Minister is here tying up more red tape, more legislative quangoism and attacking again, as I say, the merchants.

Has the Minister anything to say? I would like the Minister, when he will be addressing this, to talk about those merchants. I would love the Minister to tell me what has he against them. In our local marts in Kerry, for example, there is a person operating inside in a room and providing a great service to the farmers. That person is extremely knowledgeable about all the doses and everything. What has the Minister got to say to those people whose way of living he is attacking? I would love to hear the Minister answer that. I would love to hear the Minister say that he does not give a damn about them, he will shut them down and they will go home. They see their way of living, making a living for themselves and for their families - they were paying their tax and they were minding their own business - all being taken away from them. Has the Minister got anything to say about that?

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