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

Food security is paramount to everyone, not alone the farmers but also the consumers. We all see what happened with the fertiliser. It is my belief that the cartel operated by the larger co-ops in this country have ensured that the cost of fertiliser went to the highest that it could. This year, even with the price of gas coming down, we see they are still trying to make the argument that because they bought the fertiliser at the back end of last year, 2022, that they are entitled to charge as much as they can get for it now. If it was not for the fact that fertiliser became available at a cheaper price in the North of Ireland and that we could see the same thing was happening in the UK, it would still be at an exorbitant price. These co-ops are telling us that they bought this year’s fertiliser at a dear price at the back end of 2022. They did not tell us that they bought the fertiliser at a much cheaper price at the end of 2021 and they held on to it. They would not even quote or give it out in March last year until the price went up further. This is unfair trading. It is treating our farmers with contempt and treating the consumers and the housewife with contempt. That is what has happened. The farmers could not sustain the extra cost without driving up the cost of their produce as they finish it and produce it; they had to drive up the cost to cover their own expense whether it is dairy, beef or whatever.

I am asking the Minister and the Minister of State here to carry out a high-level investigation on these co-ops. When we talk about the larger co-ops, these are the very people who have been trying to stop their suppliers from supplying the smaller merchants recently. We thank those smaller merchants for supplying fertiliser much more cheaply than the larger co-ops. There is and has been unfair trading going on in this and it has to be called out. The Minister has to do something about it. I raised it with the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, a couple of months ago. He came back to me with a letter following my question to him during Leaders’ Questions saying that these co-ops were justified in charging what they are charging because they bought it dear at the end of last year but he was not able to go back far enough to see what happened at the end of 2021. I am calling on both of the Ministers to do something about this and ensure that something like this never happens in this country again.

I am also calling for an investigation into another matter, namely the cost of green diesel. Farmers cannot operate without green diesel. The price of green diesel went up way higher per litre than white diesel. There is no difference in the quality of white diesel and green diesel for driving whether it is a lorry or tractor. The only difference is the dye that is put into it. I cannot understand and farmers cannot understand why green diesel is at a cost that it should not be. We are thankful that the cost of road diesel and petrol has reduced but it needs to be reduced more. At the same time, green diesel has not gone down to the level that it should. We still know that something has happened and we need to get an explanation for the farmers because again, the farmers cannot sustain the extra cost onto the food that they are producing. Here in this Chamber, I want to thank our farmers right around the country for the wonderful food that they are supplying, whether dairy, beef or whatever, at the highest level and the highest standard. They are maintaining their environment requirements to the highest standard. I resent and reject the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity that is insisting that farmers be taxed more on their produce and that the subsidies they get from Europe should be reduced. I want to remind those people that the subsidies are not a gift. The farmers are entitled to them for producing food at a cheaper price and to compensate them for not being properly paid for the food, whether beef or dairy that they are producing. I resent the statement by that citizens assembly a couple of weeks ago and I am glad to get the opportunity to condemn it for that because there was not a farmer in there that voted and passed that motion for the sham assembly they were all put into which was set up by this Government. There is only one assembly that I believe is correct and that is the people who are elected. Those people were elected by nobody. We are elected in here and we are the citizens assembly.

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