Kieran O'Donnell (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Hopkins referred to agriculture and farmers. It would be opportune to get the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to come to the House to discuss the low farm-gate prices farmers are receiving for their produce. There appears to be an alarming disconnect between what customers are being charged by the multiples and what farmers are getting for their produce. I understand work is being considered at national and European level and I suggest that we ask the Minister to come before the House to update Members on it. There are implications for both rural and urban areas in a situation whereby the multiples are dictating prices to the extent that co-operatives can only pay a certain rate to farmers for milk. This is a problem and it is something we need to investigate in order to determine what exactly is going on. There has been a great deal of talk about it. This is a debating Chamber and this is a matter we can track from the farm gate to the consumer. Ireland is an agricultural nation and this has implications for farmers, co-operatives, processors and, in many cases, local shops that cannot compete. I suggest that we request that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and any other relevant Minister come before us to provide an update on how the issue of the disconnect between farm-gate prices and the price charged to the consumer is being looked at nationally and at European level in order that farmers and others along the supply and distribution chains will get a fair price for their produce.