The relatively straightforward position is that Ireland is a member state of the EU and is heavily dependent on the beef and dairy industries. The special position of the beef industry is recognised in several European Protocols and nine out of ten bullocks raised in Ireland must be exported. Destinations for exports include European countries and third country markets and there must be a balance between the live trade and finished products. To this end, Bord Bia, the Department of Agriculture and the Government exist to support and assist the beef industry. Given its special position, there have always been technical and administrative supports in addition to the necessary political support.
The industry is experiencing a severe crisis at present but, regrettably, political support and sympathy does not exist when it is most needed. The composition of the Government gives a clue to the reason for that position. Listening to the address of the Leader of the Labour Party in Limerick last Saturday night, farming families must have felt they had been airbrushed from history. The Tánaiste did not mention rural Ireland or rural issues never mind the crisis in farming. Apparently, the Labour Party is entirely oblivious to it.
As Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Tánaiste has done nothing to assist our largest industry maintain its vital market share of foreign markets. He is more concerned with perpetuating his grudge match with the beef industry than assisting farm families. The Labour Party has betrayed the mandate given to its rural Deputies. However, the arrogance and indifference of the Labour Party is nothing compared to the outright hostility of Democratic Left. Debates in the House in the last year on matters relating to agriculture, all of which were instigated by Fianna Fáil, have been characterised by a vitriolic abuse of farmers and the farming industry by Democratic Left Deputies. Apparently, farmers are not part of the working class which Democratic Left purports to represent.
Democratic Left Leader, the Minister for Social Welfare, Deputy Proinsias De Rossa, is so inured in his prejudice that he said "the farmers are rolling in it" in response to a question about the difficulties of farm families on a recent edition of the RTE "Farrell" programme. Farmers are the victims of the political bigotry and bias of the left wing parties in the rainbow coalition Government.
The hostile bias of the Labour Party and Democratic Left is aided and abetted by Fine Gael. The Taoiseach and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry have repeatedly rolled over rather than confront the hostility of their Government colleagues towards farmers. For example, the Taoiseach recently said in relation to rural group water schemes that Fine Gael had no policies. As a result, farmers and rural Ireland must depend on the Labour Party and Democratic Left. Fine Gael is in office but not in power. Rural constituencies cannot look to this Government for a rescue scheme in the current crisis.
The litany of broken promises by the Government and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry to farmers can only be explained by the political cowardice of Fine Gael. No other sector of society has been so let down or ignored by Government. The collapse in farm prices, the closure of foreign markets, the repeated cuts in export refunds and the failure to deliver on the promise of matching a compensation for green £ revaluations add up to a litany of lost opportunities and broken promises.
The recent editorial on 5 April last in the Farmers' Journal sums up the position. It stated that the collapse in beef prices which followed the previous week's revaluation and cut in export refunds was the clearest signal yet that we have lost our way in our day to day dealings with Brussels and its critical management of the beef market. The editorial continued that, ultimately, the blame for this debacle must end up on the desk of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Deputy Yates. It said it will take more than recycled compensation announcements to quell farmers' anger and sense of betrayal at this time.
This is a sad position for farmers and it must be galling for the farming community to hear further announcements of the same tranches of payments. Non farming people are under the impression that farmers get a lucky bag at the end of each week. Basking in good news is not what is required in this case. The Minister has been adept at that because he was bequeathed a good position by the previous Fianna Fáil Government. The Minister has run from photo opportunity to photo opportunity and neglected the real work which needs to be done in Brussels, Cairo, Tripoli, Tehran and Moscow. This aspect has been omitted from the agenda. The Minister is unable to pull his punch at Cabinet and in Brussels. Regrettably, farmers, the industry, co-operatives and PLCs are the losers.
Farmers want to know when the Minister will fulfil his promise of matching national compensation for green £ revaluations. On 20 March and 14 April this year, the IFA said in a statement that it would hold the Minister to the specific commitment he gave to livestock farmers to deliver Exchequer funding to match EU money on revaluation compensation made on 4 February in the Davenport Hotel in Dublin. The sooner this Administration realises that farmers and their families are the backbone of this country the better. This has been the case throughout history. If they are removed, the entire structure of rural Ireland falls apart. Unlike most countries in Europe, farmers are central to the stability and future of the economy. They have contributed in a major way to the development of Ireland's agri-business. They have never been slow to reinvest generously in farm buildings, equipment and machinery and upgrading systems. Everybody has benefited as a result.
Approximately 140,000 or 13 per cent of the workforce depend on agriculture. In the next few weeks when members of the Government parties call on them seeking their support they will ask "when we were down on our knees, what did the Government do for us? Did Ministers have their photograph taken or go to Brussels? When did they last go to Cairo or Tehran to seek to have markets for our livestock reopened?"
Farmers and their families maintain a key presence in many industries. Where would the tourism industry be without farm guesthouses which provide good food for tourists who marvel at our beautiful landscape and the good work being done? If farmers trying to eke out a living and pass on their farms to their sons or daughters cannot look to the Government for support in a time of crisis and difficulty, morale is sapped. It is currently at an all time low. No matter what way one looks at the figures, farmers and their families are central to our hopes for prosperity. Under the left wing dominated rainbow coalition Government, however, there is no hope. The agricultural Celtic Tiger which Fianna Fáil fed and nurtured is becoming anorexic and will soon fade away.
Fianna Fáil is conscious of the importance of farmers and their families to the economy. It has always been the party of the farm family and the village and small town entrepreneur. All of the schemes and programmes that matter to farmers, be they education schemes, the operational programme for rural development, the Leader programme and so on, have been put in palce by Fianna Fáil which has its roots in rural Ireland.
Fianna Fáil has catered for the needs of the rural workforce. Two years ago the future of farmers and their families was assured. There was a thriving live exports market, adequate marketing support and on-farm investment schemes to ensure farmers could continue to compete with their competitors in Europe and elsewhere. If the Government does not assist farmers, we will move inexorably towards world prices in the next GATT Round. All on-farm investment schemes have been abolished.
At the end of 1993, under Fianna Fáil, farm incomes were increasing by 18 per cent to 19 per cent per annum. Today, they are dropping rapidly and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. This month farmers hoped that the slaughter premium would be retained at its existing level but there was no give because the Labour Party and Democratic Left members of the Government had no interest in the matter. GATT, the Americans and the Iranians among others were blamed for the loss of high morale in the industry which dropped to a state of depression and, in some cases, destitution but the real reason is that there has been no commitment to supporting an industry in need of assistance. More than all other occupations, farming is cyclical in nature. We owe it to the farming community to support the industry in times of crisis.
Fianna Fáil negotiated the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy which provided for the most far-reaching initiatives for farmers. These included the ten month and 22 month beef premiums under which cattle farmers obtained an extra £240 per head. Fianna Fáil negotiated the extensification and deseasonalisation premiums as well as the ewe premium for sheep farmers. While this has not been dismantled, it has been torn apart and reduced by £6.50 this year. Hill farmers need it more than most.
Farmers, big and small, benefited from the unprecedented £700 million package negotiated by Fianna Fáil under the accompanying measures. It included the farm retirement and REP schemes. To develop a modern food industry, Fianna Fáil negotiated the operational programme for the food industry worth £641 million. To protect the future of cereal growers, it negotiated the area aid scheme.
On leaving the Department at the end of 1994, I was confident that the industry would be able to withstand a downturn which is inevitable with a left wing dominated Government. Unfortunately I was wrong. Because of mismanagement, for which only the rainbow coalition Government can be held accountable, what happened was beyond the estimation of the worst case scenario.
It is no coincidence that the farm prices crisis coincided with the term of office of the left wing dominated rainbow coalition Government. Farm incomes are under serious threat. Many farmers will leave the countryside. It is estimated that 3 per cent have left. Beef farmers, beef finishers especially, have been let down badly. There is no hope and the opportunity was not taken to ensure the generous package negotiated in Brussels filtered through to them.
The single most important thing the Minister can do is to seek to have live export markets reopened. This requires a political initiative. There is a need to put in place an assurance and certification programme to ensure there are no traces of residues in the cattle we export. Consumers should be confident that our beef is safe to eat. We know there is a minuscule difficulty in relation to BSE, the number of cases is in single figures. Approximately 99.9 per cent of the cattle population is disease free. Why, therefore, has a certification programme not been put in place? Why has the famous assurance scheme, about which we heard so much, not been put in place? There is no point in the Minister flailing around wildly like a failed manager and blaming anyone who comes to mind. A live trade will bring its own competition and bring the factories to heel quickly. Farmers know that even the most rapid computer system in the world will not return prices at marts to their previous levels in the same way as the reopening of the live trade market.
I estimate that approximately 40,000 of the 100,000 beef farmers — I again mention this figure as it will be very important in the coming weeks — have no future, while the remainder will have their incomes severely dented. If the Minister does nothing else in the coming weeks he should visit the capital cities of those third countries and reopen markets for our live cattle trade.
Other sectors of farming are also suffering. Incomes in the dairy industry, which is the prize sector of the agriculture industry, are down by 25 per cent, while milk has fallen to less than £1 per gallon. These figures are going in the wrong direction. Grain farmers are also suffering and are not looking to a bountiful harvest this year. Morale is so low that many parents find it difficult to get their children to take over their farms from them. If this was not bad enough, there is also a question mark over the payment of installation aid to young farmers and it is possible that this will be diluted.