Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Efforts to develop new international market opportunities for the sheep sector will not be worth the paper they are written on if urgent action is not taken to secure the viability of the sector here at home. One of the explicit goals of Food Vision 2030 is securing market access and diversifying trade and market opportunities at home and abroad for Irish farmers. However, many of the sheep farmers I am engaging with are rapidly losing faith in their capacity to respond to any opportunities that may arise simply because they are struggling to maintain operations from one week to the next. I have met local representatives from the ICSA in Offaly, who are always a pleasure to meet, and they have stressed the urgency of this situation. We have seen farmers protesting outside Leinster House and members of the ICSA were involved in that. We need action. It should not take a protest or individual meetings with Deputies for us to realise that we need to protect a sector worth €400 million in the interest of agriculture and in the economic interests of the country. We must protect this valuable sector.

Unfortunately, farmers are facing a 40% increase in input costs that have landed like a financial grenade within the sector. Irish sheep and lamb are world-class, premium products that are in huge demand and they generate approximately €400 million per annum. The chairman of the ICSA sheep committee, Mr. Sean McNamara, said farmers need to be paid €8.30 per kilogram for lamb in order for them to keep producing. Mr. McNamara was speaking at an ICSA sheep crisis meeting. That meeting was also addressed by Mr. Joe Burke, senior manager of meat and livestock at Bord Bia, Mr. Seamus McMenamin, sector manager of meat and livestock at Bord Bia, and Mr. Oliver Crowe of CC Agricultural Consultants. Mr. McNamara said that it was confirmed by Bord Bia that Brexit disadvantaged the Irish sheep sector and that Irish sheep farmers will face increased competition in Europe from the UK and the southern hemisphere for the remainder of 2023, much like it has done since the Brexit vote. This is why the ICSA is campaigning for a €50 million emergency aid package for sheep farmers, to be funded through the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, BAR. That needs to be done without delay.

Why does it always take a campaign or a fight for these farmers to get the supports they so richly deserve? As I said earlier, it is a no-brainer to protect such a valuable sector. I urge the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to step up to the mark and not fail another agricultural sector.

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