Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is the first week of July and an impending fodder crisis is facing the livestock sector. We had an extremely long, wet winter which exhausted all existing fodder supplies. Grass growth for the spring and early summer has been roughly 30% below average. We are heading into a crisis and the mental and financial pressure farmers are under cannot be overestimated. I stress, above all, the mental pressure. Unfortunately, we hear increasingly stories of the mental anguish farmers are suffering. Farming is a lonely profession. More than a year of the weather we are after having is causing huge difficulties. I urge the Taoiseach ask the Minister for agriculture to convene the fodder group immediately and put plans in place to deal with the fodder crisis we will have next winter.

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