Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Senator Bacik is special within the Labour Party.

I support the good proposal made by Senator O'Donovan to deal with the fodder crisis, which was supported by other Senators. The crisis is evident and there is not one bale of hay left where I live in the parish of Athleague-Fuerty. In my area people sell them at a normal price but the cost of buying fodder from mills and so on is a terrible hardship for farmers.

Fianna Fáil always responded to such situations but the Government and the Minister seem to be above doing so. He is too busy in Europe and is obviously not interested in the situation. There is a crisis here and it is about time that Fine Gael Senators asked their Minister to do something and take stern action. I am not talking about ringing bank managers or co-operatives. I implore it to do like what my party did when it faced such crises in the past. I suggest the Government provide a distress fund, import fodder at a price or even involve the Army to transport or import fodder. Fianna Fáil always took action in such situations.