A national crisis within our farming industry is affecting almost every part of the country, particularly rural Ireland. This relates to the availability of fodder for our cattle and is particularly acute in the dairy sector and in high-intensity farming. Deputies Ó Cuív and Moynihan raised this last week. Yesterday I met the Bothar Buí co-operative and spoke to farmers who express huge frustration that there does not appear to be a sense at national level that farmers are really in an unprecedented crisis.

Hear, hear.

The problem began last year with terrible weather in the summer, which has impacted on the quantity of silage that could be cut and on the fodder capacity to deal with an extended winter. Cows would normally have been out on the grass for a long time by now but they are indoors. I met the chairman of the farmers' committee of IRD Duhallow yesterday who told me that by his estimate 90% of farmers in the Duhallow area are without feed. I saw on television the Dairygold Co-operative purchasing fodder for its suppliers across that region at exorbitant prices.

The transport costs incurred by co-operatives helping their suppliers to source fodder have serious implications. Credit facilities and lines are breaking down. There is no fodder left in the country which is very serious. The farming community is concerned that this point has not got across to people at national level, in government or in the Oireachtas. The human toll is beginning to mount. Some farmers have been hospitalised and mental health problems are growing. People do not know where to turn.

Does the Taoiseach accept that the fodder situation is a national crisis? Will he establish a national co-ordinating group or task force involving all stakeholders immediately with a view to addressing the issue in the short term and coming up with solutions and coming to the assistance of farmers? Will he establish a fodder aid scheme to assist farmers who are in deep trouble and see no end in sight?

I am aware that this is an issue of acute concern to farmers. Obviously, significant numbers of farmers have contacted my constituency office about the matter. I met the president of the ICMSA, Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, the other morning about it and have had representatives of the IFA, Irish Farmers Association, on to me on numerous occasions. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine was very open about this issue last week on national radio and many occasions since. It has arisen because of the hardness of the weather for several months. As any farmer will tell the Deputy, farmers have been waiting for some natural heat to bring on growth. The issue is of acute concern in quite a number of cases. The next few days and weeks will be critical for farmers, for whom sourcing fodder is a key priority.

The first priority is that farmers should have access to fodder for their animals. As Deputy Micheál Martin is aware - if he is not, he should be - the relationship between farmers and their animals is very close. One will recall the plight of a poor farmer in Athlone whose cattle were stranded and went to extraordinary lengths to see they had fodder. It is an issue of the farming community caring for animals in the best way possible. I saw the television pictures of the 75 loads of hay coming in from England. The Minister and his Department have been quite open about this matter and want to hear from farmers who have acute fodder shortage difficulties. They have encouraged the co-operatives which have been flexible with providing credit for affected farmers to give them favourable deals, selling fodder at cost price. Feed is being sourced and will be provided for any farmer who has run short. One cannot wait with animals in a case when there is no fodder available.

A relatively small number of farmers have contacted the Department, despite the request to do so, if they were in acute need. Listening to farmers, I note the co-operative spirit is very strong. Farmers who still have silage left have helped others who do not. Available fodder is being shared, while other fodder is being sourced. The Minister and the Department have been in regular contact with the banks, the co-ops and the feed merchants urging flexibility and co-operation in order that farmers who need it can have access to fodder, be it silage or meal. The Minister will again meet the chief executives of the co-ops and the representatives of the banks tomorrow when he will again urge the greatest degree of flexibility and support for farmers in distress. Both the banks and the co-ops have urged farmers to contact them to discuss the terms they have available.

The banks, for God’s sake. The Taoiseach must be joking. Show me the money. Cá bhfuil an t-airgead?

Gabh mo leithscéal. They have indicated flexibility and support will be available for farmers affected. Teagasc is dispensing substantial amounts of technical and nutritional information on fodder needs arising from the severe and harsh weather conditions that have prevailed since the close of summer in 2012. Teagasc advisers are working with farmers to provide advice on the best options available to them.

The Fianna Fáil spokesperson on agriculture has been calling for a €10 million fodder fund. Farmers have not been seeking such a fund. What they have been seeking is flexibility, co-operation and access to fodder. It is in these areas that the Minister, the Department, Teagasc and the co-ops are working very hard to see to it that the farming community and animals get through this difficult period safely.

Live horse, eat grass.

In my opening remarks I endeavoured to keep this issue free of party politics because it should be above it. There is a real crisis. What concerns me about the Taoiseach’s reply is that he uses every word but “crisis”. He says the Minister is open. He used the words “acute concern”, “difficulties” and “challenging”. The Minister did the same last week, but there is a determined effort to avoid use of the word “crisis”, as if uttering it would mean the Taoiseach would have to take some action. He mentioned everyone but the Government is taking some action on this issue. There is a credit problem which is looming and getting worse for the millers, co-operatives and farmers.

I asked the Taoiseach three questions. Did he accept there was a crisis? He said, “No.” The farmers I met yesterday were very clear that there was a crisis. Everyone knows that if those who take decisions do not accept there is a crisis, it impacts on the urgency and nature of their response.

I asked if the Taoiseach would set up a national task force to bring all stakeholders together to develop a national response to the crisis for many farmers who are in difficulty through no fault of their own. I accept the matter has to do with negative climatic conditions. However, the unprecedented nature of these climatic conditions justifies a national response led by the Government in bringing all stakeholders together. It is not too much to ask the Taoiseach to put together a national group to lead a proper, co-ordinated response to the crisis. Paying €135 a bale, as the Dairygold Co-operative Society has had to, is not an answer. I met a farmer yesterday with 100 cows who had enough feed to last only until today. The crisis so far will have cost the average farmer with 70 cows up to €20,000.

And he or she will never get that money back.

The banks, meanwhile, are generally increasing bank charges. The co-ops have told us that they are playing their role but that they are concerned about the banks. They are doing their very best to help their suppliers. Teagasc is also playing its role. The problem, however, is that it is giving professional advice but farmers involved are at the pinnacle of animal husbandry. These are good farmers who have taken good advice all along the way. However, last summer’s weather conditions and the extended winter period have impacted on the amount of feed available. What happened at the back end of the year will present another problem because of the extended winter period.

The Deputy is over time.

This is not going to end in the next three weeks if there is some sunlight. As was articulated to me yesterday, the overall problem will be that it will sap farmers' confidence in Harvest 2020-----

It has.

-----because milk yields are down by one third this year. In some areas such as Duhallow, County Cork, there will be a 50% cut in milk yields. This will reduce farmers’ capacity to take advantage of good milk prices. The implications are fundamental for an industry and a sector for which we have great hopes. The Taoiseach should set up a task force. In the past, when there were isolated flooding incidents, fodder aid schemes were produced by former Ministers, including by Deputy Brendan Smith and Joe Walsh in 1999.

The Deputy is over time. I must call the Taoiseach.

It is not something that could not be done. It could be. At the very minimum, the Taoiseach should set up a national co-ordinating group. I ask him to do this in good faith.

Deputy Butler could head it up.

The Government is asleep.

I always remember Deputy Brendan Smith as the Minister who gave out free cheese.

I gave out cheese, but I also gave funding to farmers in the west who had been affected by bad floods.

A good productive farmer knows exactly the extent of fodder and feed he or she has left.

The man to whom the Taoiseach referred from Athlone was actually from Galway.

Order, please.

As they approach the end of their silage or meal cellars stocks, they know exactly what they have left. It is a crisis when it reaches the point where the farmer has no fodder and meal left.

They have no fodder.

They have gone beyond that point.

What are they going to do, Mattie? The first thing is that neighbours share, as all farmers do.

They cannot eat clay.

As Deputy Micheál Martin has heard on the national airwaves, farmers in every parish have shared silage bales, feed and fodder.

Yes, they have, but the fodder is gone.

They are bringing in fodder from England.

The Taoiseach should listen to Deputy Michael Healy-Rae because he is in touch.

If farmers are in difficulty in the next few days when they run out of fodder, they will be on, first, to the co-ops, Teagasc, their neighbours and the Department.

In this case there is no need for another task force to consider the problem. We know what the problem is-----

The Taoiseach is doing nothing about it.

-----and the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has stated publicly that if there is a difficulty with any farmer in so far as fodder is concerned, he wants to hear about it.

We are telling the Taoiseach about it.

There is a line to the Department of Agriculture-----

Phone a friend.

-----and the feed is being distributed. Teagasc instructors are giving nutritional and feed advice to farmers as they need it. Nobody wants to see farm stock left without fodder in these cases.

It is a crisis for any farmer when they run out of fodder or feed. That is the reason the Minister has been meeting with banks, co-operatives, lenders, Teagasc and the feed providers themselves to ensure there is flexibility, co-operation, extension of credit, and sale at cost price to allow farmers get over the coming three or four weeks, which will be very difficult for some people. I share that concern. I accept it is a crisis for anybody who is running out of fodder.

They have run out.

Farmers are the most practical-minded people in terms of their business-----

Yes.

-----and they know that neighbours will share. If everybody is out of fodder, then they must have access-----

You cannot share what you do not have.

-----as Dairygold demonstrated when it brought in the loads of hay from England last week. It is a genuine issue of concern, but I do not share the Deputy's view of the need for a task force. All of the people are in place.

They are not. The Taoiseach is doing nothing about it.

They are headed by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine who has publicly invited farmers to contact him and the Department so that they can get access to credit, access to fodder and flexibility, where that is required, from lenders, feed suppliers or whomever to tide them over these difficult few weeks.

What about the small farmer?

The Taoiseach is totally out of touch.

Can we have order, please?