Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The farming community will have been a bit disappointed to hear the Taoiseach say earlier that he was not aware of what the price of fertiliser is in the UK per tonne because it has been their talking point for a week.

Farmers now realise the only way they as primary producers can ensure the sustainability of their farming income and activity is to have direct input into their cost base and for them to have direct involvement in the primary and secondary processing of their product. A large number of farmers have come together in the past week and agreed on the need to form a co-operative to import their own fertiliser needs on a not-for-profit merchant basis. The reality of Ireland's fertiliser prices flatlining at €1,000 per tonne while our competitors next door are at €500 per tonne is damning indictment of how much anything outside the M50 means to this Government. Will the Government support these farmers setting up a co-operative as not-for-profit merchant importers?

See this speech in context