Timmy Dooley (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss this important issue. She will be aware the agency responsible for the grading of cattle for the various beef schemes has carried out a reclassification in recent weeks. As a result, cows, heifers and bulls that would have been given five-star ratings based on the index have been downgraded. To show the consequences, let me give the example of a farmer in north Clare. Last March, he purchased a Simmental bull with a five-star grading for €4,500. In recent days, he and his family have been told the bull has been reclassified with a three-star rating. The immediate impact is twofold. First, the value of the animal, based on the factory rate to kill it, is about €2,000, so the farmer is down €2,500. He has 40 cows or heifers that would have been put in calf by the bull, but, as a result of its downgrading, there is now a question mark over the grading of the progeny. This means a very significant impact on the livelihood of a very small suckler farmer, who, like many others, is struggling with the cost-of-living crisis and various cost increases and trying to raise a family. I have genuine concerns. While I understand to some extent what the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation is about in its effort to improve the quality of our beef herd, it does not seem logical that, overnight, at the stroke of a pen or with the provision of better statistics or information, there can be such a profound impact on farmers.

The Minister of State knows well from her background and the area she represents that there is a struggle, particularly in the beef sector. The vagaries of the marketplace have always dictated that farmers can never be sure of what they will get for their cattle at the end of the year when they are ready to go to slaughter or to be sold as weanlings. It depends on the prevailing winds of the marketplace. What has occurred seems like a bolt from the blue. While there was some discussion about it, farmers were clearly not expecting this kind of reclassification. If the downgrading were by one star, people would get used to it. Farmers would breed out, sell the cattle for commercial purposes the following year, and then start again with heifers and a bull with higher star ratings.

What role can the Department play in mitigating the impact on certain farmers, particularly those with beef breeds that were promoted as the best? I am aware that the sector is moving towards smaller cattle, including the Angus breed, which will be finished sooner, have smaller carcases, and have good beef conformation.However, the thinking and advice all along the way has been to move farmers on to the bigger breeds of cattle, those with better muscle conformation. Now, having followed that pattern, they find themselves being significantly disenfranchised and at huge personal financial loss.