Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We welcome the appointment of an Irish Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development. My colleague, Deputy Eamon Ó Cuív, and I went in person to meet with the officials there while on a trip to Brussels last week.

I would like to call for a debate on the beef crisis. Throughout the summer months, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, seemed to abdicate his responsibility, sadly, in order to focus on the important issue of the Golan Heights. The reality is that the differential between the price paid to producers and the price paid by consumers in supermarkets throughout this country is as high as 1,600%. There is no question that the Minister's decision to hold round-table talks among representatives of processors, producers and multiples was a welcome development. However, it is not good enough in itself for the Government to call for better communication between those interests.

When we visited the European Commission last week, we were reminded that Article 39 of the Lisbon treaty guarantees that farmers are entitled to a fair price in the market. They are not getting that. Through the Minister, Deputy Coveney, we will be calling from this House on the Commissioner-designate - I am sure Mr. Hogan will get through next week's hearings and have his appointment confirmed - to champion this cause and take a leading role in ensuring Article 39 is put into practice to assist farmers throughout the entire EU. Up to now, we have abdicated our responsibility to ensure farming families throughout this country get a fair price without official barriers being put up by multiples and processors throughout Britain and Northern Ireland to manipulate a scenario. The effect of this scenario is that farmers throughout the country, particularly in the Border counties represented by Senator Comiskey and me, are subsidising the profits of multiples.