Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Members for their contributions. It is quite obvious from listening to everybody that there is both a keen awareness of the challenges facing the horticulture sector and a value put on the sector in what it contributes. I note Senator Boyhan was actively involved in the horticulture sector when we both were on the local authority many years ago.

I number of important points have been raised and I will try to deal with them. In response to Senator Gallagher, multinationals are a problem. We see, interestingly enough, that the two dominant retailers in the Irish retail and grocery sector are both Irish. There is 0.2% between them. They have leapfrogged each other. Between them, they account for 44% or 45% of the retail market. The remaining four or five take up another 45% and the smaller outlets take up the rest. Therefore, the two have a dominant position.

In my first term in the Dáil, I brought out a groceries, consumer and competition protection Bill, ironically, with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Creed, where we were trying to bring about a structure for the relationship between the primary producer and the processor or, as Senator Reilly pointed out, the co-op. I visited that co-op as an Opposition spokesman when it was going well. Their demise was unfortunate and unnecessary because they were doing what their customer demanded, but for other reasons, they were unable to continue to trade.

The grocery goods regulations are the result of consistent lobbying by producers, farm organisations and politicians. In the previous Dáil when I was Chairman of the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine, we brought out a report on this matter. We had a certain level of impatience with the pace with which the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 regulations were brought out. The regulations came into effect on 30 April this year. They will run for eight months. I understand the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission must report on its activities over the eight months by the end of April 2017 outlining exactly what happened, how many took place, any breaches which occurred and any follow-up measures that were taken because there is quite a deal of legislation which covers breaches which extend to prosecution. The objective is to review these regulations and see if they are working.

Personally, I believe that we may have to go further. In Europe, opinion is divided on what should be voluntary and what should be statutory. The CAP 2014-2020 acknowledges this imbalance in the relationship between various stakeholders along the food chain and encourages the establishment of producer organisations. I would concur with that. We have producer organisations in the mushroom sector. If there is anything we can see from that, it is that those organisations have helped to offer some level of protection and a channel of support for marketing and investment in the mushroom producing sector. The same could be applied across the protected crops and potatoes. As the Senators well know, there are basically four nursery stocks: mushrooms, potatoes, protected crops and vegetables. There are various opportunities that we should follow and there is probably potential to draw down EU funding in that vein.

The question on forestry is one I had better not forget. We hope to have roughly the same hectarage as last year, namely, 6,500 hectares. The target is to get to 7,000 hectares by 2018, and up to 8,400 hectares, roughly by 2020. I would make a couple of points. I have taken any opportunity I have had to engage with the wider forestry business. We are at 25.8% in broadleaf plantation. Our aim is to get to 30%. The native woodlands scheme out to 2020, which we launched in the summer, is incorporated in that. Along with the incentives for broadleaf production, that should get us to 30%. To get to 7,000 hectares, the enclosed-unenclosed definition will be changed. It is based on soil quality. If soil is determined to be GPC 3, which has growth potential, it will qualify for the higher rate of grant, enclosed or unenclosed. We are reviewing it to see if we can incentivise it. There are other initiatives happening. There is an ongoing threat response to the hen harrier, which may highlight that we have adopted a very cautious approach to the hen harrier areas and that, based on best practice in places such as Northern Ireland, there may be flexibility to release land that is eminently suitable for plantation. Much work is happening on the forestry sector, including agriforestry and other initiatives. One of the basic challenges is to instil in people that planting a plantation is not an either-or situation. Speaking from personal experience, to have a section of a farm planted adds to the farm production and the value of it and its ability to redeem an income to the farmer. We must regard it as a whole-farm management package rather than just an either-or. There is significant resistance in certain areas of the country. I have met them and I am trying to convince and reassure them that to want to plant more land is not a threat. We see the jobs that are created downstream as a result of the sector and the value of it. Given that it is not particularly relevant to the debate, I will leave it at that.

The mushroom industry has been challenging. Although I have not visited Monaghan Mushrooms, I have met the main person in Monaghan. Quality assurance is a matter for Bord Bia. Not all mushrooms by Irish companies are produced in Ireland. Bord Bia is better equipped to answer about quality. Bord Bia's overall budget for the horticulture sector is €4 million and it is examining alternative markets in other parts of the world. That is down the line. Brexit has happened for the horticulture sector in the form of currency fluctuations. Today, sterling is at 85 cent. Last week, it was 90 cent and it was predicted that it would reach parity. There is great uncertainty, which leads to volatility and nervousness. The Senators are right that the freshness and quality of our mushrooms is unparalleled. The product going to the UK market is reliable and freshly delivered on time. While other countries will supply at a more competitive price, when one factors in wastage, unreliability and reputational issues, the Irish mushroom holds its head up, as it were. This also applies to other products.

Last Thursday, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, and the CEO of Bord Bia, Mr. Aidan Cotter, were in the UK with the CEO of one of the major multiples. This is not the first time they have been there. There is ongoing engagement with them to reinforce the message that if they let the sector go without some adjustment in price - and there has been movement in it - and unless there is an acknowledgement of the need to address it very quickly, their supply base will diminish. One or two of the growers which went out of business have restarted, although the lead-in time is significant. If it goes to a point at which the supply base is not big enough, the major retailers will have a problem to which they will have contributed. We are working on it.

The €150 million loan fund is for producers. Most mushroom growers have a production element and a processing element. The major element, 1,000 people, is not part of it. It probably does not have the same challenges, although it has some challenges. The loan fund is targeted. It was a livestock fund of €11 million that came from the EU. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine considered its own resources and added €14 million to it, and it went to the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, and got clearance from the Commission to allow it to extend beyond the livestock sector, especially to arable farmers and mushroom growers. Yesterday, I heard the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, say it would be rolled out in January. The SBCI has engaged with the pillar banks to roll it out as quickly as possible. It will be a game changer. It is urgently needed but it must be fine tuned so there is no improper lending. The fact that no security is required adds to the need to get it right from the start.

The lean initiative will be piloted with four or five mushroom growers. It will use Teagasc and Bord Bia, linked in with Enterprise Ireland, to examine how to assist growers in leaner production techniques. There is already a lean arrangement with Monaghan. When I met the CEO of Monaghan Mushrooms, this was one of the initiatives that was highlighted to us. It could be a significant benefit to growers in cost reduction. Costs are approximately one third compost, a little over one third labour, and the rest is ancillary. Compost and labour are the significant costs in mushroom production and anything that can improve efficiencies in them is to be encouraged.

The renewable heat incentive, RHI, is a matter for the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Naughten, and we have met him. A couple of mushroom growers have renewable heat and some have not finally commissioned them and will not do so without an RHI or unless oil prices increase. There is a cost balance. In the wider vegetable sector, even if a product is considered seconds and is not going to make it to the market shelf, it should be possible, when people need food, for it to be a source of energy. It can be used as a form of biomass in a waste to energy initiative. Have I left anything out?