Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I second Senator Murnane O'Connor's proposed amendment. I agree with the sentiments she expressed regarding Garda resources. I attended a meeting of the Monaghan joint policing committee last weekend at which the chief superintendent outlined his concerns about the lack of resources with which he had to work. I believe he stated that, by the end of the year, he would be down to eight patrol cars to cover his division. He outlined that he had a serious problem and stated that, when he picked up the phone to look for help, he was told that there was no money.

I wish to raise two issues relating to the farming community. Today is the final date for the spreading of slurry. The deadline needs to be extended to accommodate those farmers who are trying to put slurry on their lands. There has been an exceptional period of heavy rain, so much so that lands across the country are impassable to machinery. In some cases, it is not even possible to have livestock out on lands. I understand that many farmers throughout the country have been forced to house cattle because of the ground conditions. The farming community needs the deadline to be extended. I have written to the Minister expressing that sentiment and I hope that the Leader will use his good offices to implore the Minister to extend the deadline.The other issue relates to the beef exceptional aid measure, BEAM, which is the €100 million fund introduced by Government to compensate hard hit suckler farmers in regard to beef prices. I was disappointed but not surprised to learn that only half the suckler farmers in the country have applied for this scheme. This illustrates that the scheme is not working and is not attractive to farmers in the first instance. The problem, in part, is that one of the criteria pertaining to this scheme is that farmers must commit to a reduction in their stocking numbers by a minimum of 5% for the following year. The lack of uptake in the scheme highlights that there is a problem with it. Again, I implore the Leader to use his good offices to bring back to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Creed, the message that suckler farmers are hard pressed with beef prices and ground conditions and they need a break. The Minister needs to review this scheme with a view to making it attractive for farmers to apply for the funding which they so badly need.