Joanne Collins (Sinn Fein)

I am pleased to contribute to this debate that goes directly to the future of our agricultural industry, family farms and rural communities. The agri sector, the agrifood sector in particular, is Ireland's largest and most important indigenous industry. It directly supports more than 170,000 jobs across 135,000 farms, 2,000 fishing vessels and more than 2,200 food enterprises. It is a sector that underpins not just the economic prosperity but the very fabric of rural Ireland - our small villages and market towns, keeping communities alive, businesses viable and tradition strong. However, we have to be honest: not all sectors are experiencing the benefits equally. Suckler and sheep farmers, many of whom farm on marginal land, are seeing their incomes diminish while dairy and tillage sectors enjoy very strong profits. The average income for a suckler farmer last year was just €9,400, and yet the average dairy income exceeded €150,000. That is a staggering gap and a gap we need to close with policy. This is not a new observation; it is a long-standing challenge, but it is a challenge we must confront if we want rural Ireland to survive and flourish.

I want to be clear: Sinn Féin has always fought and will always fight for fairness for small and medium family farms, the people who produce our food, care for our land and keep our communities alive. We must also be frank about the future we want for Ireland's agriculture and agricultural industry in a challenging and changing world.

I will touch on the EU-Mercosur trade deal, like my colleagues across the floor. The deal would allow large volumes of South American beef into European markets. It is a direct threat to family farms here in Ireland, the food standards and the environment. It would undermine the hard-won reputation Ireland has for high-welfare, low-carbon production. It makes no sense for Ireland to pursue climate and environmental goals on the one hand while signing a deal that will destroy rain forests and undermine hard-working European producers on the other. Sinn Féin's position is clear. We reject the Mercosur deal in its current form, and we will continue to fight against it. Importing cheaper, lower standard beef would undercut our producers, devalue their products and disregard all the progress we have made in developing a world-renowned agricultural industry.

We need new markets and strong promotion to help Ireland's agricultural products find new homes throughout the world. We must pursue them in a way that plays to our strengths. Ireland produces high-calibre, grass-fed, environmentally friendly food products, and we should leverage that reputation. Instead of competing on price against low-cost producers, we should secure new, premium markets, develop geographical indicators and add value at home. That means putting resources into our food regulators, Bord Bia, developing strong Ireland-branded products, and strengthening the agricultural co-op model, making sure profits stay in Ireland and flow back to primary producers. We also need to look at supports. The supports must be tailored for those sectors under pressure. We need to reform agricultural payments to reflect that. That means proper supports for suckler and sheep farmers, incentives for diversification and developing new income streams, and a dramatic reduction in the red tape and bureaucracy that currently strangles those in those enterprises.It means addressing unfairness in pricing, strengthening the role of the Agri-Food Regulator and making sure the Department of agriculture is there to support, not to undermine, farmers' ability to do their jobs.

Ireland's agricultural industry is at a crossroads. The choices we make now will determine whether we retain a vibrant family-friendly farm structure or become a land of large corporations and factory farming. It will determine whether rural Ireland can flourish, pass viable holdings on to the next generation and remain a world leader in high-calibre food production.