Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the serious plight and situation small beef farmers find themselves in. Two factories are selling beef below the cost of production and things are getting worse. There is a glut of cattle in the market, which could be down, in part, to some of the dairy herd being sold for meat. Last week alone there was a record approximately 40,000 animals slaughtered and yet compared to this time last year, beef is down approximately 30 cent per kilo. This time last year a farmer was getting €4.05 per kilo but now it is €3.75 per kilo.

Farmers facing into Christmas would be hoping for a boost but this has not materialised. We all welcome that in the budget the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine recognised the pressure the suckler cow farmer is under and the pressure on beef production and introduced the beef environmental efficiency pilot scheme, giving it €20 million along with providing €23 million to the areas of natural constraint, ANC, scheme, which all helps these small farmers.

However, they are in a bind. Teagasc figures show that it costs €800 to keep a suckler cow for the year and yet some farmers are only getting €700 for a weanling at the factory. There is a serious problem here-----