Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was not going to mention the pharmacy issue but it is an important one and a debate in the House on it is pertinent.

I will raise an issue the Cathaoirleach is very much aware of, particularly in our part of the world, namely, the crisis in the beef industry. The weekly kill has gone from over 40,000 head of cattle before Christmas to 36,000 last week. We have a significant crisis of over-supply and dropping prices and we have Brexit around the corner which could have a major impact on our beef industry.

It is an issue of confidence for the industry. The beef forum has to be activated. It must meet in the next few weeks to discuss how we deal with supply. There will be a large kill in the next number of weeks. We need to find markets for it. The Food Wise 2025 policy was put in place ten years ago but there are no markets now. It is becoming a significant issue for the number of cattle going through the system. The real issue is farmers are being squeezed and prices are being cut. They are 20% below the UK average. It is having an enormous effect on rural Ireland and industry, which is dwindling away because confidence in the market is slipping away.

The beef forum needs to be reactivated as a priority. It would be helpful if the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine could come to the House to discuss these issues regarding the beef industry and Brexit. An amazing statistic is that 75% of the beef that entered the UK market last November was Irish beef. The UK market is our main destination for beef. If there was to be a slowdown in that supply chain or, God forbid, if we had a hard Brexit, the industry would be affected more than any other industry in the country. The debate would be helpful. I hope we can have it soon because time is passing. The debate needs to happen. It would be appropriate for the Minister to come to the House next week.