Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The farmer’s life cycle is dependent on the price of the product and the cost of producing it. That is the most important factor in this whole process. Every grant the Government gives does not make up for the fact that every year, farmers are getting less and less from the supply chain in farming. Most of the profit ends with the factory or supermarket. The Government is refusing to get involved in that element. I know that young farmers are voting with their feet and going to work in other countries such as Australia. Why is this? It is because they are witnessing the stressful arguments between their parents late at night about mounting debt on the farm. That is the reality. Until we focus on the price of beef, dairy, sheep, pigs and poultry in this State and get to some level where a floor is set at the cost of production for farmers, we are going to get into further trouble.

The truth is farmers are seeing finger wagging from arrogant and detached Green Party politicians and their south Dublin Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil colleagues on this. There is a detachment from rural and regional Ireland in where this Government is going and that needs to be fixed.

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