I wish to bring to the Taoiseach's attention the crisis with the price of fertilisers and what is happening with farming in Ireland today. This is the second year that Irish farmers will have to pay unrealistic, exorbitant, over-the-top prices for fertilisers. In recent weeks Germany, other European countries and the UK are paying 40% less than our farmers for fertilisers. They pay €500 a tonne for urea while Irish farmers are paying €850 to €900. I thought when we went into the European Common Market in 1973 that all EU countries would have a level playing field especially with prices for goods and supplies. It has become very clear that we do not have enough competition in the fertiliser market.

This problem began in October and November 2021, months before the Ukraine war. Prices began to soar and after Christmas but still before the war, prices increased further. Some of the co-ops would not even quote farmers. Last March, Kerry farmers could not get fertiliser for almost two weeks as it was being held up by the distributors and co-ops so that they could increase the price further. It is absolutely ridiculous that many co-ops will not quote farmers today for the price per tonne for fertiliser. They will provide it to the farmers and send the bill later. It is very clear that the fertiliser distributors and suppliers are profiteering at the expense of our farmers. The profits of Yara, one of the fertiliser suppliers, increased by 60% between September and December last year. Mosaic, one of the leading producers, doubled its profits in the same period. The whole thing is rotten with farmers suffering and households crippled with increased food costs.

Before the increases, urea started out at €380 a tonne in 2021. Last year it was €1,000 a tonne and it is still €900 a tonne now.

The fertiliser companies blame the war and claim that the increased cost of gas is the reason for the increase in production costs. There has been a constant reduction in the price of natural gas – up to 85% - since last September. We should be seeing a major reduction in the cost of fertiliser.

It is becoming clear that we do not have proper competition in the fertiliser market, with Goulding, IFI, Grassland and Yara operating together. I am calling for a high-powered investigation at national and European levels into what is happening. What is the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, for? Is it a charade? Is it being paid for nothing? It is not helping Irish farmers or Irish consumers in how it is letting this situation go unattended.

I thank the Deputy very much for raising the important issue of fertiliser prices. I think we all know that the price of fertiliser has gone through the roof in the last year or so. As the Deputy mentioned, some of that is linked to the increase in the cost of oil and gas. There is also the situation in Ukraine and Russia, where much of the fertiliser comes from. I know that very high fertiliser prices have cancelled out a lot of the gains that farmers had got from strong prices for what they produced.

I am not aware of the details when it comes to the disparity in prices between Ireland and the UK. I will ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to examine that and see if it can be explained or what the reason is. I do not see why there should be a major disparity between the prices that farmers pay for fertilisers here versus in the UK or other parts of western Europe.

What may be of interest to the Deputy is that there was some positive news for farmers in the announcement made today regarding the temporary business energy support scheme, TBESS. Farmers can and have applied for that to help them with the cost of oil and gas. Since that scheme did not have the drawdown we expected, we are changing it, which means that more businesses, including farmers, will be able to qualify, more businesses will get more money from the scheme, and it will be backdated to September. Thousands of euro could be coming into farmers' bank accounts in the next few weeks because of the changes made to that scheme, which I think will be welcome.

In recognition of the fact that a lot of businesses in rural Ireland do not use gas or do not have access to the gas network, there is going to be a scheme to help with the cost of kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, for businesses in rural areas in particular that are not on the gas network, that use LPG and kerosene, and that did not benefit from the TBESS up until now.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply, but he dealt with everything except what I asked him to address. Will he agree to hold a high-level investigation into what is happening? That is what I am asking him for. This issue is serious and is hurting farmers all over the country, including in Kerry of course and most importantly. It is also hurting consumers, though. The farmers are not Mother Teresas. If they have to pay an exorbitant cost for fertiliser, it will have to be added to the rest of their costs and the poor people who pay to put food on the table will suffer. Will the Government hold an investigation at a national level and a European level? The Government is back and forth to Europe every day and is doing this and that for it. Now is the Government's time to ask Europe to do something for Irish farmers. They cannot suffer these increased costs. Why is it that we are paying €850 or €900 per tonne for urea when Germany and other countries in the EU and across the water in the UK are only paying €500 per tonne? The Taoiseach has to suss them out and see what is happening.

Will the Taoiseach suss them out?

I will. Like I said earlier, I will certainly look into the matter. I will speak to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine about it this week. There might be a good reason for it, but I do not understand why there would be a big disparity in what Irish farmers have to pay for fertiliser versus those in Germany and the UK. We will definitely have it examined. In terms of a CCPC investigation, it would be up to the CCPC to make that decision as to whether it wanted to investigate or not, but we will certainly have the matter examined. I take the Deputy's point. High fertiliser prices feed into higher food prices, which means higher costs for everyone. If we can bring down the cost of fertiliser, that will not only benefit farmers, but consumers in our towns and cities as well.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta has been compared with many people, but I do not believe ever with Kerry farmers before today.

She could be compared with worse.