Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit go dtí an Seanad. I raise the issue of agricultural cuts in the Seanad and I am calling on the Government to reverse some of them. Unfortunately, I understand that the answer will be a very blunt "No" and that I will be told these cuts are meant to get the country back on track and indeed more will be coming down the line in the form of the McCarthy report that will impact on agriculture. My argument is that agriculture is providing jobs and the 13% cut in last year's budget amounting to about €210 million is already having a crippling impact on the agricultural sector right across the State. Many schemes have been affected including installation aid, disadvantaged area grants, suckler support and early retirement schemes, allocations to Teagasc and most recently the REPS 4 payments. Each of these is having an impact on a certain sector. Some of them are having multiple effects on the same family farm.

County Donegal does not have enormous farms, but very small holdings, many of them in very poor land. One of the reasons the Brits never planted Donegal was because the land was so bad, and farmers on those small holdings have been struggling ever since. These cuts are having an impact on Donegal and other counties particularly along the west coast, where land is not as good or productive as in other areas. I am only echoing what I hear from those farmers who are trying to keep their head above water, struggling to continue the tradition of the family farm to pass it on to a younger generation. I hear, too, from young people who want to get out of the colleges and onto the family farm. The stories would break one's heart, particularly as regards supports such as installation aid which were cancelled by the Government last year. This restricts young people from going into farming.

I ask the Minister of State to re-examine these cuts so some of them may be reversed. The closure of REPS 4 has had a devastating effect on rural Ireland. This House knows well that although REPS 4 was an environmental protection scheme, it represented additional income for family farms throughout the State. Without that income many of these farms would become non-viable and its withdrawal has done just that. It is not sustainable for people to continue with traditional farming. We need to understand that this is the industry which puts food on the table and services the retail sector. It exports and is enormously beneficial to the economy. We are in danger therefore of cutting off the hand that feeds us.

If the Government wants a system whereby large farms produce the majority of the country's food, then it is following the correct route. If it wants small individual family farms to continue through the 21st century, however, it needs to reassess some of the cuts it has implemented, as well as some of those being proposed in the McCarthy report. I ask for some generosity in this regard. Given that the IFA has produced a plan which would see significant savings within the Department's spending area, it needs to be acknowledged that the Government should listen to the real concerns of farmers.

This is just one of the many sectors of society which is outraged at the Government's handling of the economy and the decisions taken that affect rural communities and the least well off, to pay the price for the sins of others. The anger is palpable throughout rural Ireland in the farming sector, and rightly so. This Government is going to squeeze small farmers out of business. It is one cut after another. How many times can cuts be inflicted on family farms without ending up butchering them. I ask the Minister of State to give careful consideration to my plea, which is an echo of the many pleas I have received both in my constituency and around the State from farming families, to ask the Government to reverse these cuts.