Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Many congratulations to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his position. I welcome the new Minister to his role also. I worked with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, in the previous Government and I hope to have a good and productive relationship with him in this one, and indeed with the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish. Much of what the Minister has said I cannot disagree with. We have a vibrant economic model in our farming sector. Both fisheries and farming have huge potential for our economy, particularly for rural areas. People living in coastal areas depend almost solely upon them and many of our small towns and villages would not operate if we did not have our farming communities. It is evident that Ireland is an agricultural country still. It is a massive part of our economy and we have to ensure we develop and grow our farming sector in particular.

The Minister mentioned the various sectors. One of the problems with the Teagasc farm report is that it is about summary statistics, the overall picture. When we go down and bore into things a little bit, the report sometimes covers up some very disappointing situations, especially the suckling sector, which is one of the main sectors in my part of the country, where we have very low farm incomes. In the past couple of days I was just looking at this along with somebody else. A suckler farmer with 40 acres would find it hard to make a profit of €5,000 or €6,000 a year. If they were working on a building site, they would make in a month what they make in 12 months farming. Those people must have off-farm income, and therefore we have to ensure there is a vibrant economy in those rural areas alongside the agricultural economy so they have other opportunities.

The sheep sector is very difficult also. We have to understand that for many people living on marginal land in poorer circumstances, where they do not have options, and although dairying is doing very well, that cannot be for everywhere, we have to recognise there should be better assistance in place for them. That is where the schemes come in, the ones Government has control over. I acknowledge the Minister's recognition of the frustration farmers have, particularly with ACRES and the significant problems that exist, which are far from resolved. I recognise his commitment and that he hopes and expects to have a lot of this sorted out by June and that it will not happen in the future. For the vast majority of people, though, this has been the experience with every scheme that governments have continually brought out. This is not new. Every time a scheme is brought out, it is difficult, onerous and hard to comply with and slow to get paid. That is what happens with farmers every time. There is a big job of work to be done in the Department of agriculture to ensure there is a sea change in respect of all that.

I mention the forestry sector, which has a huge impact in my part of the world, especially in respect of the storm which the Minister also mentioned. With electricity power lines running through forestry, trees have come down on top of lines and this has destroyed rural communities. We have to change the model to ensure infrastructure like that is protected. This needs to be done as quickly as possible. I wish the Minister and Ministers of State well. We hope to work co-operatively together. I certainly will be taking a strong stance for rural Ireland and to ensure people can get proper payment for the food they produce and proper payment from the schemes they enter. That is the responsibility of Government.

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