James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Experts who know about farming are, unfortunately, incredibly concerned about antimicrobial resistance. They do not feel it is being taken seriously enough and are concerned about the speed with which this is being implemented. I am hopeful there will be some degree of progress on that issue under the current Minister. The Bill has the potential in the medium term to have a significant impact on the effectiveness of animal medicines in Ireland. This will have knock-on consequences for the food supply chain in this country. Education is the best way out of this. Perhaps there is an argument that it creates an administrative burden for people living on farms. They are aware of all the ongoing administration that has to be done. There are heaps of it and I recognise that, but this is being done for a reason and it is the correct one.

The attitude taken by some Deputies, including the one we just listened to, comes from a very bad place. I do not understand the opposition to this measure. The reason vets are being asked to intervene in these cases is to ensure there is proper authorisation for the administration of products. Vets could charge €15 or €20 for that service but if doing so safeguards food security for the next two or three decades and prevents even greater negative effects from antimicrobial resistance on food supplies and animal health, it will be worth its weight in gold for farmers across the country. That is the message I received from a retired Department vet I happened to run into recently. The individual in question was very sincere. I wanted to convey that message with the Department officials present.

On the fertiliser issue, farmers engaged in post-quota expansion in the dairy sector are concerned about the impact this will have from an administrative point of view. I encourage the Department to be careful in what it does. Farmers get that there is a push from some parts of the Government - hopefully not from Fianna Fáil - that fertiliser use must be reduced. Fertiliser has a purpose and is important. Depending on the weather and at certain times of the year, significant amounts of fertiliser are required to encourage grass growth. Some of the advances in the area of introducing fertiliser registers, which will probably eventually lead to farmers being asked to reduce their use of fertiliser, are very unfair in the context of post-quota expansion in Ireland. There are people who spend hundreds of thousands of euro, in some cases up to €1 million, of their own money on the expansion of their herds and facilities. They did so on Government advice and on the basis of Harvest 2020. That is not fair. I remember going to talks in Moorepark with my father around the time the quota was to be abolished. The term used to describe milk in Ireland at that time was "liquid gold". That was the farming terminology used when talking to people. Investment was being prioritised for new slurry capacity, new sheds and acquiring land. Thank God for the high milk prices last year because many younger farmers who had engaged in such expansion were put to the pin of their collar. They now see this debate on herd reductions and fertiliser registers, two issues that are causing alarm.

I disagree with the comments made by Opposition Deputies on AMR because they are not based on fact. I am hearing from experts I trust, who have spent their lives working for the betterment of agriculture in this State, that AMR as an issue in Ireland, and internationally, could have devastating consequences for agriculture, including our meat and dairy industries. It is like the law of diminishing marginal utility. As more medication and antibiotics are used in our dairy herds and other sectors of agriculture, the knock-on consequence will be a decline in the effectiveness of these medicines, and that is profoundly concerning.

I ask that the Department engage with organisations, such as the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA, and the IFA. I know it has been in talks with those organisations but I ask that it step up that engagement and convey that message. I often recognise that agriculture in our constituencies, Donegal and Cork East, is like chalk and cheese. The Minister has come down to us on several occasions but that is a message that needs to be communicated for the right reasons. It may not be popular to say this, certainly based on what we heard here earlier, but from my experience as someone who farms at weekends, I would like the Minister to drive this on and get it done. This is European legislation. We could have done this sooner but we must do it now.

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