Rónán Mullen (Independent)

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Seanadóir Mac Cárthaigh. Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Dúirt Samuel Johnson ní hamháin go mbronann talmhaíocht saibhreas ar thír, ach gurb í an talmhaíocht an t-aon saibhreas amháin gur leis an tír í, chun an fhírinne a rá. Bíonn daoine ag gearán agus ag déanamh neamh-aird ar thábhacht na talmhaíochta d'eacnamaíocht na tíre seo. Níl aon saineolaí eacnamaíoch talmhaíochta ag an ESRI faoi láthair, mar shampla. Nuair a bhreathnaíonn tú air, is é tionscal an bhia an t-aon tionscal ceart atá faoi smacht ag Éireannaigh agus ar a bhfuil gnóthaí móra idirnáisiúnta, ar nós Kerry Food Ingredients agus Glanbia, bunaithe.

Agriculture continues to be of major importance to Irish life and I noted Samuel Johnson's comment that agriculture not only gives riches to a nation but the only riches she can call her own. Although people discount the economic contribution of agriculture, and the ESRI does not have an agricultural economist on its payroll, agriculture and food are vital to our national economy. The food industry is one of the few significant industries in Ireland which is largely controlled by Irish firms and one of the few sectors where we have large multinational enterprises such as Kerry Foods and Glanbia.

The statistics remain impressive and this morning's debate involving the president of the IFA was most illuminating. Although there have been attempts to downplay the economic contribution of agriculture, where one considers that for every job in food manufacturing there are four related jobs in the wider economy, this speaks for itself. Ultimately, the strength of the food sector depends on the survival of Irish family farms, without which we would have no food industry. We can be certain that there will be fewer dairy farmers in business at the end of this year than at the beginning because they have been forced out by costs, prices and, to some degree, Government indifference.

The great American liberal, Jim Hightower, once stated that it was still possible to make a small fortune in farming but the trouble was that one needed to start out with a large fortune. This is a sentiment many dairy farmers would agree with, as this year milk prices have plunged to 1983 levels while supermarket prices remain at the 2009 level. According to the IFA, farmers are now selling milk at between 4 cent and 7 cent less than the cost of production. There is an onus on everyone to respond to this crisis at Government, EU and co-operative level. We need a floor price for milk at EU level and we should tackle the cost of doing business in this country. It is 25% more expensive to run a business in Dublin than Belfast and we need the industry to step up to the market co-operative level and pay a decent price to farmers.

The current collapse in milk prices is not the only issue. The decision by Tesco to begin to source grocery goods directly from the UK and to slash the space allocated to Irish brands on its shelves in Ireland will have a potentially disastrous impact on the Irish food sector. We need to debate that very soon. There should be a fair deal for hard-pressed Irish consumers but not if the price of it is to be permanent Irish job losses.