Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I raise the crisis in the pig industry. Since last September, the industry has seen huge losses on a continuing basis. I was talking to pig producers in Barryroe on Friday evening. They have been losing up to €50 per pig on a continuous basis since last September. These are multimillion euro losses. It is affecting both the milling companies and the manufacturing of the product itself at the other end. It is a high-input product where a low value is put on the meat itself at the end of the process, which is disappointing. The real issue is that this is our third biggest sale of product going out of Ireland from the agricultural industry. It is third behind milk and beef.

It is a very important entity in west Cork, in particular. We have Staunton Foods and we have 40 pig farmers there. That is 40 families attached to this industry for decades. They do it to the very best of their ability and are renowned throughout the world for what they do. This industry is on the brink at the moment. Unless we have really significant investment by the Government, we could lose our pig industry, which is one of our most important entities. We are looking at a scenario where the cost of feed has gone up by 90% since last September. The costs of energy and transportation have increased dramatically. We are looking at 10,000 jobs and €1.8 billion in sales to the economy. We could lose one of our real prime cuts, which is what our pork and pig industry means to our economy.Unless we step into the market now and support it, we will lose these people. Just today I was told by pig farmers protesting outside Leinster House that they will have to stop breeding their next lot of young pigs. If farmers start culling sows now, as is being proposed at the moment, they will not have the breeding stock to bounce back when the market returns. In that situation, we will lose vast numbers of pig farmers. They are literally going into liquidation. It is appropriate for this House to have a debate with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine as soon as possible because we are facing a scenario in which the Irish pig industry is lost forever.