Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on the beef industry in this Chamber as soon as is practicable. I asked for the debate some months ago and, in fairness, he facilitated my request. It is not normal during benign weather for farmers to travel all the way to Dublin to protest about the price offered for their beef. Prices in the beef industry are an ongoing and serious problem. I ask the Minister concerned to make progress in breaking up the cosy cartel of beef processors that operate in this country and the UK, who deny its existence. However, there are strong facts that prove that it does exist. Farmers are faced with all sorts of regulations. For example, once a calf is born it must be registered so that the animal can be traced all the way from birth through the butcher's and all the way to the plate. Yet farmers have been offered an appallingly low price for their beef. If one goes into a butcher's shop and orders a side of beef, a loin or whatever, the price paid by the consumer does not reflect the input made by farmers, the producer of the product. I will not go so far as to repeat what was said by the president of the IFA, Mr. Eddie Downey, last night when farmers held a protest on Kildare Street. He said that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine was asleep at the wheel. Certainly, if he is not asleep at the wheel then he has taken a doze on this issue. When we had a strong debate here about four months ago he assured me and the House that he was doing everything possible to ensure that progress would be made on the crisis facing beef farmers.