Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State is very welcome. I fully support the motion. What we see unfolding on our television screens every night is something to behold. When, please God, all this is over, we will see that worse atrocities were carried out than those we are seeing on our television screens.

In my county, Longford, we are willing to play our part in the national effort. A significant number of households have made their homes available. Last week I met a group of 40 people from Ukraine in the Longford Arms Hotel. The whole community has got in behind them. That includes the sporting organisations. Longford Sports Partnership was out on the Royal Canal recently and has taken part in rugby, hurling and GAA matches. The full supports are there from all the organisations in the county.

It is important, however, that while we support those who come here, we also support those in our country who are affected by what is happening in Ukraine. Both Ukraine and Russia are an integral part of the global agriculture and food commodity trade. The war, coupled with the introduction of retaliatory economic sanctions, both directly and indirectly, is seriously affecting the agrifood trade, in particular the cost of production, fertiliser and, ultimately, global food availability. I know that the Minister of State is working very closely on that and making sure that supports are in place, but it is important we keep working on that. The key concern is further input and commodity price rises on top of the already elevated prices which are weakening on-farm margins to unsustainable levels across a number of farm systems. Fertiliser prices are already high. The Central Statistics Office has stated that prices have increased by 86.9% in the 12 months between the end of 2020 and last year and that we could see a jump of another 40%, with some grain prices even doubling. The Russian attack against Ukraine represents a major concern for the global agricultural and food industries because of the likely effect on oil, fertiliser, wheat and maize markets. For Irish farmers, the major impact might stem from the effect on the market for natural gas, the main raw material in the manufacture of nitrogen fertilisers. The war has already greatly disrupted grain markets and farmers have already seen animal feed prices rise significantly through 2021. Ukraine is estimated to contribute 12% of global wheat exports. The war arises at a time when global vegetable oil markets are already very tight.

I ask, therefore, that further supports are given for those in our country who are affected by the war. As I said, I know that a tillage scheme was introduced to get more farmers to engage in tillage in order that there is not a knock-on effect on our own industry, but I ask that more supports be put in place. We met the big industry farmers just outside here yesterday. They have serious concerns. I emphasise that we should look after our own as well and make sure that those financial supports are there for them.