Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I share Senator Ivana Bacik's desire to have a debate on the oil and energy industry in this country. A good start would be to do what was done in the Dáil yesterday, namely, to have a debate on the committee's report. I am surprised that the Dáil took the initiative in this regard ahead of the Seanad. In fact, with others, I have called on several occasions for a debate of this type. The Dáil upstaged us in this instance because this is the type of debate in which we have always been to the forefront. Senator Ivana Bacik may not be aware that the Minister was interviewed on "Morning Ireland" this morning and he impression he gave was that he did not intend to take up many of the specific recommendations made in the report, including the proposal for an increase in taxation. While he made a very cogent argument in that regard, I am not sure I welcome everything he said in terms of the rationale for discarding several of the recommendations made in the report.

Will the Leader consider inviting the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to the House once again? He is a regular visitor - one of the few Ministers, in fact, to make himself available to us on a consistent basis - and usually very lucid and comprehensive in his exchanges with Members. A report in recent days shows that farm incomes have dropped yet again, which is out of line with the perception that the farming community is doing very well relative to previous years. There has been an astonishing reduction of €5,000 in average income, bringing pay back to 2010 levels. This worrying decline must be viewed in the context of the continuing severe weather conditions. Will the Leader convey to the Minister the ongoing concerns of the farming sector about the fodder crisis? It is not over by any stretch of the imagination. Notwithstanding the few days of growth a fortnight or so ago, the weather in the past week has destroyed any improvement that was beginning to be seen. We must maintain pressure on the Government in this regard. I welcome the Minister's initiative in extending the subvention he has given for an additional two weeks. He must, however, continue to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis. I appreciate that he has a heavy workload, including the negotiations on the Common Fisheries Policy and the Common Agricultural Policy taking place during Ireland's Presidency. We must not, however, forget that there are people experiencing great hardship in the farming community in this country.