Seanad debates
Wednesday, 2 July 2003
Common Agricultural Policy: Statements.
I looked at some figures – I may not be totally accurate – and I gather that in the last 30 years we have put 540,000 tonnes of butter into intervention. I think the figure is correct. I am not great at maths but I then did a sum to find out how long it would have taken us to consume that butter ourselves. I reckoned it would have taken us 39 years to do so, if we did not produce any more. It is ridiculous that Irish farmers have been producing a product that nobody really wanted and that has been put into intervention. Producing a product that nobody wants cannot be good, even for the mental health of anybody who is in agriculture.
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