Marc Ó Cathasaigh (Waterford, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We do produce the highest quality of dairy, but I am concerned. I have seen farmers across the south east make huge investments in their milking parlours. They are investing a quarter of a million and essentially have a mortgage repayment on it. Slurry storage is another very expensive area. I know a farmer who put half a million into his slurry storage, and the repayments on those loans are predicated on the milk cheque.

My concern is that we should be mapping this forward because if something happens to displace the sale of milk, then farm families are in real difficulty. Alternative meat is a while away because it is difficult to crack. I refer to such things as marbling and sear. That is less the case with dairy and dairy derivatives. We are seeing the Kerry Group investing massively in this area. In 2020, it acquired c-LEcta. A lot of money is going into this area already and I want to make sure the Government is keeping track of that research and horizon scanning because I see a significant threat coming down the line for the people who are so reliant on the milk cheque every month.

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