Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. At the outset I would like to express my disappointment, with all due respect to the Minister, at the fact that the Minister's appearance here today coincides with a meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which discommodes all of us, as spokespeople for our respective parties. None of us has the power of bi-location and the unfortunate clash is disappointing.

That said, I welcome the Minister to the House and note his statement on Brexit. Two very strong themes in his statement are the need for preparatory work and the likely outcomes of Brexit, if and when the British trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty and what may happen two years after that. However, there are a number of issues that are not about preparation but about immediate action. The most pressing issue at the moment is the situation in the mushroom industry. As we are all aware, almost 90% of mushroom product is exported to the UK and the current currency fluctuations mean that the industry is haemorrhaging large sums of money on a daily basis. Many mushroom producers are on fixed contracts which are up for renewal between January and March 2017 but many will not survive until then. Producers in the sector are very confident that if and when they sit down to negotiate new contracts they will have a very strong mushroom industry into the future, due to the fact that their main competition was from eastern European suppliers who may not tender for those contracts because they too are struggling.

Planning is not a solution to this problem. We need immediate action. I know that there will be no support coming from the European Union as this is an Irish problem. While I welcome the Minister's visits abroad and his Department's sourcing of new markets, there is no new market possible for the Irish mushroom industry, due mainly to the short shelf life of the product. The British market, irrespective of the outcome of Brexit, is and will be the only real, viable market. The bottom line, however, is that the industry is not going to survive. I ask the Minister to comment on this because there is a need for immediate action and support. We have already lost more than 130 jobs in the industry. We have also lost a supply contract worth €7 million and that is just the tip of the iceberg. I ask the Minister, in his response, to tell us if there are any plans in this regard. While the mushroom industry is under the umbrella of horticulture within the Department, it is an enterprise and jobs are at stake. There may well be a need for input from other Departments. Has the Minister had any discussions with the Departments of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Social Protection, or any other relevant Department, on what life support could be made available to the industry to allow it to survive until the contract renewal dates? If something is not put in place, the industry will not survive.

Other sufferers as a result of the difficulties in the mushroom industry are the cereal farmers who supply mushroom producers with wheat and straw. As the Minister is aware, cereal growers have had their own problems this year from a climatic perspective, especially along the west coast. I would like to hear the Minister's comments in this regard. There was a crisis in the industry from a price perspective at the start of the year, even if it had turned out to be a good year. Almost 2,000 hectares of grain along the west coast is now unsalvageable. This sector also needs immediate support. I do not know if something could be forthcoming under de minimis aid rules whereby the Government could help them out on a one-off basis, rather than applying to the EU. This is badly needed. It is not just a question of me standing up here and beating a drum. The problems are obvious and I know the Minister is aware of them.

The major long-term issue with Brexit, if and when it is triggered and implemented, will be how we will stand with regard to the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. The Germans have already said that if money is not forthcoming from Britain, the CAP budget will be cut. I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on that issue. What can we do in the negotiations to ensure that our CAP allocation remains as is? Farmers tell us that CAP payments need to improve in order for them to survive. If, because of Brexit, we are looking at a situation where there will be major alterations to the CAP, then the entire industry will have a major problem.

Last week, we met EU Commissioner Phil Hogan in this House and raised the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme review. The Commissioner's response was that no submission had been received from the Irish Government on that review. Why is that the case? Is that submission being prepared and when will it be submitted? The ANC payment is vitally important. It is targeted at disadvantaged areas, those which are the hardest to farm and the people in those areas are most dependent on payments. I was taken aback to hear that Ireland has not made a submission yet.

I ask the Minister to throw some light on the question of when the TAMS II tillage measure will be opened. This question has been asked on numerous occasions and the answers given have been very open, as in, "in the harvest", "at the back end", "shortly" and "soon". I ask the Minister to give a specific date for the opening of the TAMS II tillage measures.

On the beef sector and pricing, farmers are being offered, on average, €3.75 to €3.80 per kilogram at the moment but Teagasc tells us that the minimum price to break even is €4. We have a serious problem with pricing. What actions can the Minister respectfully take to try to regulate prices? Farmers are price takers but at the end of the day, the buck stops with the Minister. What can or will the Minister do to try to improve the situation? Farmers will survive but they would not be looking for money through various agricultural schemes if they were getting a decent margin on their products. We need to step in and ensure that they do get such a margin. There are a number of non-money-related actions the Minister could take, which I will now run them by him and I ask for his response. The 30 month age restriction in the factories is imposing major extra costs, particularly on the suckler industry, which are avoidable.Calves born at the back end of the year or early in the year hit 30 months in May, June and July, when grass is at a premium. Since the farmers have no wish to keep them and be penalised over the 30 months, they feed the livestock grain unnecessarily to have them finished within 30 months. However, if the period were 36 months, the farmers could leave them on the grass until August, September or October without having the extra cost of the grain. They are being penalised in the factory.

The 30 month restriction was brought in at the time of the BSE crisis, but that crisis has long since gone. Factories and processors are hammering the farmer on an antiquated law. Will the Minister interject to try to have the 30 month restriction changed? It would yield a considerable saving if they did not have to force-feed the cattle and have them sold before grass reaches a premium.

The Minister commented on the marine and fisheries as well. He said there will be major problems. What solutions or actions have been taken to try to overcome some of these problems?