James Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and very much welcome the opportunity to speak to this issue. Many Senators are focused on the mushroom industry, and rightly so because it is in difficulty. As Senator Mulherin said, energy costs are an issue, and support for green innovation would send a strong message from Government about our serious intent regarding the environment.

One matter I will mention, as others have, is below-cost selling. However, unlike others who have concerns about this issue because of Brexit, I have been concerned about it for quite some time, as have the people working in horticulture in Fingal, in north County Dublin, from where at one time over 70% of production of horticultural products took place. The figure is now around 60%. They have been at the wrong end of below-cost selling for quite some time, and it has put many of them out of business. I find it deeply disturbing that in our agricultural nation there is only one scallion producer left. Only three or four people are now involved in the production of outdoor lettuce, and the same goes for winter production of cauliflower. Very few young farmers are joining the sector; some would say none are doing so. The figures I have been given show that around 36 farmers are responsible for the vast majority of horticultural production in the country, which is pretty scary. What do we do on the day the multiples put them out of business? What do we do on the following day, when the forty-foot containers stop arriving into this country and we suddenly find we have lost the skill set that has taken generations to build up? As Senator Mac Lochlainn said, these people work very hard in very difficult conditions against the weather and against the market to make sure that we have fresh vegetables on our tables. There is an obesity epidemic in this country that we are trying to address, and vegetables form a huge part of addressing the issue in people's diets.

I welcome, however, the grant support given in recent years by the Government: €4.5 million this year and €5 million next year. Although many sectors of horticulture do not export to the same extent as the mushroom industry, they now face serious problems as well because they face cheap imports as the pound weakens and it becomes cheaper for them to sell product back into Ireland.As I said, I fear the day when, because of below-cost selling, multiples will put the remainder of our farmers in this sector out of business.

I want to tell the House one salutary tale. Back in 2009-10, a major multiple in this country encouraged farmers in Dublin and Meath to set up a co-op. They were stringent in the criteria they set for the refrigeration of the food for the standards that had to be met and a significant investment was made. Indeed, the Government may have contributed something to it as well. They got the contract in September and this new building opened. The following March, it was gone. The contract was withdrawn and they were forced to sell it.

I appeal to the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, my Government colleagues and everybody to start changing the balance of power in this market that Senator Mulherin has alluded to. It has gone too far in one direction. The market is determining what people are able to make a livelihood in this sector and that market is being controlled by a small number of multiples. It is not sustainable. It is dangerous, from our country's point of view, in terms of being an island nation and being dependent on imports for lots of goods. This is one area where we have the skill set. We have the land.

Having travelled the world as a Minister, a point I would see as a positive is that whereas many countries see Europe as clean, they see Ireland as green. They put a high premium on that. We should not allow our horticultural farmers be put to the wall by unscrupulous business practices of multiples. I accept we all love to see cheap produce on the shelves, but below-cost selling of vegetables and fresh produce is detrimental to our overall economy. I, for one, feel it should stop. Whether or not that requires the reintroduction of legislation on below-cost selling is a matter I would leave to my Cabinet colleagues to determine but something meaningful has to be done if we are in any way to be able to sustain the current farmers who are in horticulture and encourage new farmers into the sector. Many farmers see no future in it and their children see no future in it.

I welcome the opportunity to address this issue. I hope these statements in the House will lead to action. I welcome the fact the Minister of State will develop fora to deal with this but I hope that, rather than being merely a venue for people to speak about the problem, the Minister of State will come back with solutions and actions to implement them.