Irish farmers face a dilemma as to whether to borrow money to pay the cost of fertiliser, which has more than doubled, and hope to pass that onto consumers at the end of the year or to produce less food, which will also result in a rise in consumer food prices at the end of the year. I have no doubt that Ireland will produce more than enough food to feed itself but I am less confident about Europe, particularly given the lack of supply from Ukraine, which is the bread basket of Europe.

To ward off a horrible scenario whereby Irish consumers cannot afford the cost of food in Ireland, like other European consumers, will the Government intervene by bulk buying fertiliser, subventing it or putting price caps in place? We need to intervene now.

I thank the Deputy, who raises a fair concern. It is something that I and my Department are monitoring very closely. We are having a special meeting of EU Agriculture Ministers this Wednesday and this issue will form part of those discussions in the context of the challenges relating to the unacceptable invasion of Ukraine and what it means for gas, energy, fertiliser and grain prices. I thank the Deputy for raising the issue.