I know the Acting Chairman, Deputy Browne, will be familiar with this subject as there is a large sheep population in County Carlow. My colleague, Deputy Cowen, cannot be present because his insistence, in the face of the Government's provocative silence this morning, led to his being shown the red card by the Ceann Comhairle.
Fianna Fáil will not remain silent in the face of the crisis within the sheep industry engendered by the Government's inactivity and procrastination. My constituency colleague, the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Deputy Yates, has made a mess of the live export issue having endeavoured to please both sides. Indeed, his efforts to date have so impressed Compassion Within World Farming that they are mounting a protest at the port of Rosslare on Saturday next. His appeals and promises so impressed the United Kingdom-based ferry companies they refused absolutely to take live animals on board their ships.
The crisis in sheep prices has arisen from this fiasco and the problem was highlighted by the huge attendance at meetings and demonstrations by farmers, their families and others whose livelihoods are threatened. I compliment the Minister, Deputy Yates, on his public relations machine; never in the history of this State have so many photographs of a Minister been seen within such a short period, together with a list of so many of his promises. If even half the energy of his public relations machine was invested in agriculture, probably we would not have had the conference held in Wexford on Friday last or the demonstration that took place outside this House yesterday. On being invited to a function, I understand the Minister's first question is whether there will be a cameraman present.
The Minister's response to an all-time low in sheep prices is to place 1,000 tonnes of hogget into private storage. That is what I would describe as a sticking-plaster solution, the resultant 2p price increase having evaporated within a week. Factories, being aware that farmers have no alternative, are determined and have successfully pushed prices to the floor. That remedy merely postpones to the autumn an even worse problem, when that 1,000 tonnes of hogget will come out of storage on to the market, hindering rather than helping farm incomes.
The Minister has refused to explain from where his departmental budget for this remedy emanates, its cost and who will have to bear it. It is inexplicable that Stena Sealink and P&O Pandoro have made such fools of our Government. Notwithstanding their inexperience, surely it has dawned on somebody that in discussions between Government and the ferry companies the issue of a £20 million investment in Dún Laoghaire and almost similar investment at Rosslare must be a factor. That is the type of pressure that can be exerted.
It is time to take off the gloves, we do not have to tolerate the United Kingdom ferry companies cherry-picking traffic to and from this island. We have one of the toughest regimes of animal welfare regulations in Europe, thus rendering the compassionate stance being adopted on the part of world farming interests totally unjustified; there is a missing chapter from their agenda, which is compassion for farmers.
Specialisation in farming, encouraged by successive Governments, has exacerbated the present hardship experienced by farmers in the collapse of sheep prices, whereas erstwhile farming was more varied. Many farmers now affected have no other source of income. A succession of farmers in Wexford on Friday last informed me, and others, of the possibility of their having to get out of farming altogether. There is no doubt there is a huge market for Irish lamb, it is an indigenous and sustainable industry. Our right of access to the Single Market of continental Europe is absolute.
Fianna Fáil's position on this issue is unequivocal. It supports the rights of farmers to export live animals, but of course standards must apply. The highest possible standards are in the best interests of Irish farmers. It must be noted that exporters have a vested interest in the animal arriving at its destination in the healthiest possible condition.
As the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry does not appear to have the courage, I call on the Taoiseach to vindicate the national interest immediately.
