Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is not just a fodder crisis, but a fodder famine. The Government does not have a co-ordinated policy to deal with the issue. When Fianna Fáil was in power, all the farming organisations would be outside Leinster House protesting on such an issue, but that would not be necessary because the former Minister, Deputy Brendan Smith, would have taken decisive clear action. Some 846 cattle have been picked up dead by a company in east Galway in the past seven days. These cattle will never be replaced. Cows with calves cannot even get up and are dying.

When one goes through the countryside and sees the devastation, it is unbelievable. The reaction of this Government reminds me of the reaction of the British Government over 150 years ago.