(Limerick West): I move:
"That Dáil Éireann, recognising the magnitude of the crisis faced by many Irish farmers as a result of the poor summer weather, calls on the Government to:
(1) make available, as a matter of urgency, financial aid to those most seriously affected as identified by ACOT and those crop farmers who need to buy seed for next year:
(2) immediately re-assess means under the Smallholders Unemployment Assistance Scheme in the light of the effects of the disaster;
(3) increase headage payments to the maximum allowed;
(4) speed up the payment of headage grants;
(5) extend headage grants to newly designated areas this year, not next;
(6) provide low fixed-interest loans through the European Investment Bank; and
(7) encourage the banks and the ACC to help farmers bridge their present difficulties."
In moving this motion, I want to emphasise once again to this House, as I have done so many times in the past, the importance of agriculture to our economy. Indeed, we all realise that it is the real wealth of this country, a native industry using our natural resources, utilising mainly Irish inputs and employing nearly half of our working population, either directly or indirectly. Also, agriculture is one of our greatest export earners, with as much as one-third of all our exports coming from that industry.
We have only scratched the surface of the potential of this great industry. With proper managment and leadership from Government it is capable of producing more, processing more, exporting more and, indeed, employing more. Yet, incredibly the Government seem intent on depressing that industry. They have taken away one subsidy after another. They have scrapped development programmes and supports and have cut back on investment in research and education. In little more than two years of Government, they have withdrawn an incredible £200 million from agriculture. I say these things at this stage to highlight the magnitude of the problems facing not alone our farming community but also the whole economy.
The recent Indian summer may have dulled the memory of the extremely bad weather conditions of June, July and August last, but for many farmers the memory of that period is very real and in some cases it is a living nightmare. Crops were ruined, hay went uncut, budget plans were totally upset. As a result, our farmers lost something in the region of £211 million. These are figures estimated by the Irish Farmers' Association.
Let me refresh the memory of the House on how bad our summer was. The official weather forecasting service reports states that in many areas it was the coolest, wettest, and dullest summer in recent history. Rainfall was well above normal, with rain falling on as many as 76 of the 92 days. For an industry so dependent on good summer weather, that was nothing short of disastrous. Severe losses were also caused by lightning, hail and high humidity. There are instances of severe losses of livestock due to lightning, while the unusually heavy hail that fell on 27 July last caused damage to grain and horticultural crops in a narrow corridor extending from County Kilkenny to County Louth. The high humidity caused some serious high losses to potato crops, mainly in north Leinster and north County Dublin.
The main result of the inclement weather, however, was in the loss of hay due to the heavy rainfall, this in turn leading to shortage in winter fodder. While most of the larger and more progressive farmers have turned in recent years to silage for winter feed, there is still a large number of farmers, particularly in the west, who adhere to hay making. In the 12 western counties only about 20 per cent of the hay crop was secured and much of that was of very poor quality. The problem was most acute in County Mayo, in Leitrim and in Donegal where weather conditions were particularly bad and where there is still a great dependency on hay as feed and as forage. The lack of adequate fodder has resulted in farmers selling off stock at depressed prices, thus adding to the difficulties. The sharp increase in the number of young cattle offered for sale in livestock marts is a matter for great concern in view of the consequences to the economy in the general running down of our breeding herds.
So far, farmers affected by the weather crisis have received nothing but promises from the Government or the Minister for Agriculture, and many of those promises have not even been kept. The Minister, Deputy Deasy, promised that the Government would match, £ for £, any aid given by the EC, but the EC have offered grain, not cash. The Minister must now, even at this late stage, go back to Brussels and point out that it is money, not grain, that is needed to alleviate the problems affecting the farming community. I ask, what good is grain to a grain farmer who has lost all his crop? How will he find the money to buy seed for this coming year? Is he to be allowed to go out of business and lose his only means of livelihood? It seems that the Minister and the Government were fobbed off by Brussels with the offer of grain, or else they asked for grain on the understanding that they might not have to keep their promise and match the EC aid on a £ for £ basis.
Despite the much publicised visit of the Taoiseach and the Minister to the worst affected areas, they still have no comprehension of the seriousness of the crisis. It indicates the Taoiseach's attitude that he chose to fly over the Shannon Basin in a helicopter. We all know that the problems are on the ground not in the air. Although it is farmers who are suffering most now, the economic aspects of the disaster will soon be felt throughout the community in employment in processing factories, in co-operatives and in the retail trade. It is no laughing matter, Deputy Farrelly.
