Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)

I am hoping the Minister of State will relay my story to the Minister for agriculture. Food security is of paramount importance. We all know if we do not eat, young or old, we will not last very long. It is sad when we see other people and children in need in all these war-torn places starving. We hear and we read there are 750 million people in the world starving, yet we seem to not be doing our best to promote the growth of our beef and dairy industry like we should be. We still remember, because we can see the ridges of garden on the hillsides that were never dug because of the Famine in the 1840s, when the gardens failed. It was not too long ago. We were still exporting beef and meat to England to pay the rent and they would not forgo that and many of our people starved. The ridges that were not dug are still there to be seen.

The thing that is bothering a lot of people is the State seems to be buying up a lot of land. It said in the Irish Farmers' Journal the other day the State is going to continue doing that. First of all, that land is bought against young farmers who want to expand and the State is paying higher than normal prices for it. This land is let go wild, encouraging more deer and more badgers and foxes. In Kerry we have a national park of 27,000 acres. It is lovely and all that, but there is no control in the world over the deer or the badgers coming out of it, spreading TB and killing people on the roads. It is a fact. They are breaking cars and there is no control in the world.

The other thing that is happening is good land is being planted with solar panels. Farmers who had up to 1,100 cows are giving up and covering the place with solar panels. This is happening in west Cork, east Cork and in the royal county of Meath and it is a real worry. I thought solar panels were to be on the roofs of agricultural or commercial buildings. I do not blame any farmer or landowner for switching if they are not being paid properly for their produce but there should be some proper policy on it. Farmers are getting blamed then and feel victimised for climate change and polluting rivers by many in different sectors, including Members in this Chamber. Members in this Chamber are victimising them and blaming them constantly and advising us to eat other tropical-type foods from South America and different places. Do they realise there is a carbon footprint in bringing all these things? Then one of our recent taoisigh went as far as saying he was doing his bit for climate change by reducing his beef consumption. Beef is expensive now because it is getting scarce. It is only proper and right the farmers are being paid for their produce, but lamb is also getting scarce. Dairy farmers are giving up. Young fellows see their friends working a five-day week, getting holidays and not having to be up all night calving cows. They see they have a better time and they are not going to stay at the grindstone like their fathers or their grandfathers building up their big dairy herds. I have more to say.

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