'Better off robbing pallet of fertiliser' than money from a bank, Dáil is told
Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae (right) said: “If a robber had a choice between robbing a ball of money from a bank or robbing a pallet of fertiliser, the robber would be better off robbing the pallet of fertiliser because it is worth more”. File photo: Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie
Thieves would be better stealing a pallet of fertiliser than robbing a bank, TDs heard amid calls for a 'mini budget' for farmers and rural communities as farm-input costs for fuel, animal feed, and fertiliser continue to hit record highs.
The Rural Independent Group of TDs has called for a funding package of at least €75m to be provided to “crippling farmers”. Latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that in December 2021, fertiliser was nearly 87% higher than in December 2020.
Kerry TD Michael Healy-Rae said: “If a robber had a choice between robbing a ball of money from a bank or robbing a pallet of fertiliser, the robber would be better off robbing the pallet of fertiliser because it is worth more”.
Meanwhile, Danny Healy-Rae said that farmers were “terrified". "Many do not know how or if they will be able to continue," he said.
Earlier this year, the Government announced its €505m package of measures to mitigate the cost of living. Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy said that farm families were “eagerly waiting to see what big measures would be introduced”.
“Imagine being from a farm family at the top end of north Monaghan and waiting in anticipation to see what supports the Government would introduce in its cost of living package - only to find out that Luas tickets will be 20% cheaper,” Mr Carthy said.
During the debate, Sinn Féin’s Martin Browne also criticised the Government’s “slow pace” that has “continued with the delays in the promised establishment of the national food ombudsman”.
“The Government has to understand that when it fails our farms, it fails our rural communities and by a consistent reluctance to take action, it has added to the pressures that our rural communities are facing,” Mr Browne said. “It seems like rural Ireland is seen by the Government as an important generator of revenue but not good enough to pay back in kind.”
Sinn Féin’s Rose Conway-Walsh called for a Government policy with “positive discrimination towards rural Ireland”.
“Where we have farmers who have so little disposable income by the time they have paid for everything, it completely discriminates against rural Ireland and if Covid showed us one thing, it was the need to address regional inequality,” Ms Conway-Walsh said.
Mr McConalogue told the Dáil that the Government “stands full square behind our farm families and food producers”, whether it is through “the Common Agricultural Policy or direct Exchequer supports”.
“We are taking an approach to address short-term challenges now while laying foundations to ensure the long-term viability and success of our agri-food sector, as well as the viability, success and profitability of our farm families,” he added.
He said that he has written to the European Commissioner examining the effect of the European market of removing anti-dumping measures. "A decision is expected shortly on this," Mr McConalogue said. "Notwithstanding all of this, I am acutely aware of the challenges that many farmers will face this year. We are working hard to offset these increases."
Independent TD Seán Canney told the Dáil that issues “abound in the farming sector”, with the unprecedented rise in costs “causing severe problems for farmers”. “On the other side of the coin, farming is unique in that farmers cannot dictate what the price will be for their product at day's end,” Mr Canney said.
“They cannot set the price. In most industries, if there is an increase in production costs, it is added to the sales price to try to recover that cost. That facility is not available to farmers and they are in a serious predicament. There is no avenue to add this cost onto the selling price of their stock.”
Mr Canney said that farmers are “making decisions right now that they are not going to buy as much fertiliser because they cannot afford it”.
“They are not buying cattle but thinking about selling. The knock-on effect down the line will be that we will be producing less food,” Mr Canney said. “We will also have a situation where young people are running away from the responsibility of trying to run the family farm.”
He added that farmers “need some sort of hope”. “They need some sort of pathway to be created. They need direct subventions right now,” he said.
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe told the Dáil that the overall value of the proposals brought forward by the Rural Independent Group in their motion is “approximately €3bn”. “The consequence of all of this would be to heap further difficulty on other people by way of higher debt,” Mr Donohoe added.
The private members’ motion was defeated by 73 votes to 61 following the debate that resulted in the Dáil being suspended. Speaking to the , leader of the Rural Independent Group Mattie McGrath said he feels the "perfect storm" exists for farmers due to input prices, output prices, and policy.
"Last year was a good year in farming, but you don’t know what’s going to happen this year," Mr McGrath said. "There will be food shortages if farmers can’t afford to buy fertiliser."
The Irish Farmers’ Association recently raised its concerns over “extraordinary” cost inflation for inputs with the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski.
IFA president Tim Cullinan said that while the meeting was constructive, he is “concerned that the policies being pursued by the commissioner and the EU Commission”, including Farm to Fork and CAP, “may further threaten food security”.
