Michael McCarthy (Labour)

It is the least we would expect from banks in the current climate. We should not forget that farmers are also subject to income levies. I raised the matter of fuel costs on the Order of Business today. The average price for a litre of petrol is now €1.20 and for diesel it is approximately €1.08 or €1.09. There was a significant jump in the averages in May, and the tax and duty take by the State is 72 cent for petrol and 60 cent for diesel. That is a significant mark-up. The Government can initiate revenue-neutral schemes to give people a break and protect farmers subject to such costs. There has been a significant increase in fuel costs with the VAT take being increased to 21.5%.

When the mid-term review and health check were agreed, dairy markets were stabilised at intervention level but that is far below what was envisaged. Circumstances have changed dramatically and I have a few direct questions for the Minister on the talks at the European Commission. What progress has he made to date? I suggest that we gain more support in response to the current crisis.

Many good points have been made in this debate on all sides of this House and it is most important we extract a deal that can bail out the dairy industry. We should consider aggressive alternative measures to achieve that. If it can be done with the automobile association and the banks, we can surely do it for dairy farming.