Over the past three weeks, I have received numerous calls from farmers in Sligo-Leitrim, north Roscommon and south Donegal who are suffering severe hardship as they try to provide fodder for their stock. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Michael Creed, brought in a scheme to subsidise hay and silage but the hay went up by €8 per bale and the silage by €12 so it was no benefit to farmers at all. It is a health issue for many people and I am calling for farmers to be front-loaded by €1,000 to help them to survive and to feed their families and their stock over the next month. Farmers in the part of the country I come from have been feeding their cattle in these conditions for the past eight months. They will get the money anyway but it would make a lot of difference if they got it now.

Deputy Tony McLoughlin has a similar question.

Deputy Scanlon and I have met farmer representatives on this problem, particularly those in disadvantaged areas. It is important that we make provisions for the west of Ireland and there are huge hardships in the constituency we represent so it is vitally important to accommodate the affected farmers.

This is primarily a matter for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. He brought in a fodder transport scheme to respond to the very wet weather. There is enough fodder in Ireland - it is about moving it around and getting it to the farms which need it and that is why transport costs were the focus. If farmers are in extreme circumstances and there are animal welfare consequences of a lack of availability of fodder, they should contact the Department directly. They will get direct help immediately for animal welfare issues linked to fodder.