Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, to the House. It is his first visit to the Seanad, where he first cut his teeth in national politics. I congratulate him on his recent appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and wish him much success in what is a very challenging Department.

Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael)
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I wish to be associated with the comments of the Acting Chairman. It is about 12 years since the Minister of State has been in the Chamber. I extend my heartiest congratulations to him. He is well deserving of the position he holds in government.

I am concerned about tonnages being reaped from the land. I have spoken to people in County Wexford, where the tonnage per acre is down by between 30% to 50%. That must be taken in conjunction with the complete depletion of the existing reserves, which were built up over a number of years. Reserves in sheds, pits and silage bales were all used during the fodder shortage last spring.

I am an optimist. We have to hope for the best but plan for the worst. We could have a bad back end of the year or a poor spring in 2014. We must move now to ensure the potential difficulties, which could be many times worse than what we have experienced, are dealt with. The Minister has done a lot of good work to try to alleviate the difficulties. We need to take immediate steps to try to deal with the problem. Doing something in a month or six weeks' time will be too late. The growing season is now at its peak, later than normal. We need to take steps now.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senators for the welcome and for their good wishes. I served in this House for four years from 1997 to 2001. They were great times in my political life. I am delighted to be back here in my current role.

I thank Senator D'Arcy for raising this important issue. It is important that we discuss it and get to the facts of the situation. On 24 April the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, established a €1 million fodder transport subsidy scheme to help alleviate the difficulties being encountered by farmers. The purpose of the scheme was to contribute to the transport costs of importing fodder into the country and to provide assistance to farmers to enable them to feed their animals. In light of the continued difficult circumstances and poor weather during the month of May, the deadline for the scheme was extended twice and funding was doubled to €2 million, more than we had thought was needed. By the end of May, some 2,800 loads of imported fodder, amounting to over 40,000 tonnes, had been delivered to farmers, co-ops and marts throughout the country.

My Department also maintained an animal welfare helpline which received over 1,100 calls through the early warning system. The vast majority of incidents were adequately dealt with through fodder being made available under the transport subsidy scheme, but about 475 farmers in need of more substantial support were aided directly by the Department with targeted emergency assistance.

To assist farmers in financial trouble, which was a major issue for many, farm payments have been processed as quickly as possible. To date, more than 29,300 of the remaining 30,200 REPS 4 participants have been paid a total of €167 million in respect of the 2012 application period. Almost €36 million of this issued this year. In recent weeks, approximately €3.6 million worth of AEOS payments have also been issued.

It is clear that the main cut of silage, as Senator D'Arcy outlined, has been delayed this year and, as a consequence, we need to consider the potential for growing additional fodder later in the season. In co-operation with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, a temporary and targeted adjustment of the nitrates regulations was made to support additional fodder production on farms and to maximise grass growth later in the season. One hopes that if the weather improves - it is very good today - growth will be good and ground conditions will be extremely favourable. One must be optimistic. Farmers are optimistic by nature; otherwise, they would not survive in the business. It is to be hoped there will be better second and third cuts, which is what we must plan for.

Concerns have been expressed regarding access to credit and flexibility with regard to loan repayments, which is very important. Many people have found it difficult to pay for feed or fertiliser. The Department has been in constant contact with the banks. The Minister has met them, as well as the co-ops. They claim adequate credit is available but we need to streamline it and make it more available to people in need. If any Members of this or the other House know of cases in which credit is not being made available to people they should be reported to us. It is very important that this be done. If it is the case we will bring the banks in again.

I also wish to acknowledge the work being carried out by the inter-agency fodder committee. In addition to Teagasc and the Department, there is broad industry representation on the committee. It meets regularly and not only monitors the fodder situation but will also co-ordinate actions over the coming months to ensure sufficient fodder is conserved for next winter. The Minister has requested the committee report to the Food Harvest 2020 high level implementation committee, which he chairs, on the actions being taken and the progress being made. He also proposes to devote a session of the next meeting of the Food Harvest 2020 committee to the fodder situation and the outlook for the remainder of the year. Central to meeting the ongoing targets set out under Food Harvest 2020 in the case of the dairy and meat sectors is a strategic approach to fodder production and conservation.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the numerous co-ops, marts and merchants that managed the importation and distribution of fodder. I also commend farm organisations on their efforts and neighbours and friends who have helped farmers during this difficult situation.

Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael)
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Last spring was the coldest in 50 years, and as a result we had a very late gathering of fodder. The crucial issue is the application of chemical fertiliser. I welcome the position of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, on the alteration to the nitrates directive, which is very important. The application of bag chemical fertiliser is the most financially efficient method of obtaining fodder. One grows fodder on one's land by purchasing chemical fertiliser. We may need to use more than we did in the past.

That may be necessary, however, because the difficult situation farmers are facing as a consequence of the prolonged poor weather is something that might occur only once in 50 years.

The requirements under the nitrates directives have been alleviated somewhat, but we must go further to ensure farmers have sufficient stores of feed for the winter. There is no point in arriving at the same situation next March and wondering what can be done. As I said, I am an optimist and always hope for the best. The reality, however, is that we must plan for the worst. Farmers have been left with no reserves and we have seen the difficulty and expense of bringing stock over in boats from Britain and the Continent. The easiest and most efficient way of dealing with the problem is to allow farmers to spread a small additional quantity of chemical fertiliser now.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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The Senator is correct that we must seek to be self-sufficient and grow all our own fodder. That is the ideal situation. We will monitor the situation in regard to the nitrates directive and keep in touch with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in that regard. I urge farmers to engage with Teagasc, whose advisers are the people with expertise in these matters. Their assistance will be vital, particularly in the next two to three months when more fodder can be grown. By also addressing the issue of fertiliser application and the credit situation, I am confident that we can arrive at a situation in which we will have good silage crops and hopefully sufficient fodder for next year. A good harvest would help by ensuring there is an abundance of grain and hence of straw. We are hopeful of a good end to the year.