Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I join with Senator Brian Hayes and other speakers in supporting the call for action by the Government on behalf of the farming community. It is not accidental that every Monday morning, every factory comes up with the same quote for beef. A similar situation is arising in the lamb trade. This is peak season for lamb production, while the autumn is the peak season for cattle production. The factories will quote the same price every morning. The existence of a cartel among the factories is obvious.

It is also worrying that the only people who have been brought before the courts, threatened and fined by the Competition Authority are the leaders of the farming organisations. The authority appears to ignore the operations of the factories. The Government needs to have a policy that will provide competition and the only way forward for the farming community is to concentrate on the live export trade, which is something it has failed to do in previous years. This issue is urgent because the farming community is suffering from a double blow.

The Acting Leader should ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to come to the House and explain his proposals regarding the nitrates directive because this has been a bad week for farmers. The Minister for Agriculture and Food has washed her hands of these regulations and left them to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. This situation is not satisfactory and we need an immediate explanation from the Government. The nitrates directive is a very important issue for farmers, who are under threat from this Government.