Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Will the Leader contact the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine regarding a crisis? Last year was our wettest summer. It had an effect on farming in terms of the lack of quality forage produced.

I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to contact EU officials and apply for funding from the solidarity and hardship fund as farmers are not able to let stock on the land because the grass is not growing. Grass does not grow until we get some sunshine and warm weather but today we can see snow falling outside. Farmers cannot access credit from merchants if they have reached their limit and they cannot get credit from banks, as we know from debates in this House on credit for small business and farming. I ask the Minister to apply to the EU solidarity and hardship fund because this is a crisis.

A headline in the newspapers indicates that 20% more animals have died in January and February this year compared to last year - that is nearly 9,000 more animals - and this shows that something is wrong. The quality of forage is low because of the weather effects of last summer and people are not able to let cattle out on the land. What choice do farmers have? I will not compare this to famine in Africa but it is a crisis and unless the weather turns, it will be a major problem. It is important that the Minister applies for the fund so that people can look after their animals, as they do not want to see them dying.