No confidence, Lyme disease and farmers
After Senator Devine’s brief intervention, Senator Murnane O'Connor raised Lyme disease awareness and recognition by the HSE, then called for a hardship fund, low-cost loans and a €200 payment for farmers. The Chair and Leader exchanged remarks while the farmers' concerns continued.
Every day, there are people outside Leinster House seeking help and they have been feeling very helpless lately. I do not blame them because it seems nothing is being done for them.
Earlier today, I joined the Lyme disease awareness rally with Lyme disease sufferers, some of whom I know, their families and friends from every county in Ireland. They simply want to be heard on this horrific disease and are holding this rally to raise awareness of its symptoms and also the treatment and prevention available. They want Lyme disease to be recognised by the HSE. I have raised this issue before and I struggle with having to raise it here again because like the public, I feel unheard by the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris. It is time to debate this isue and ask the Minister why it cannot be recognised by the HSE in order that people can get the help they need.
I will also be standing with farmers from Carlow who are here because we cannot deny that 2018 was a special kind of hell for the farmers, with almost biblical weather conditions from one season to the next, frost, snow, rain, floods and drought coupled with cattle prices falling. The livestock farmers are under immense income pressure and they are asking for help. They are seeking delivery of the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, proposal for the introduction of a target €200 suckler payment to save the struggling beef sector. Farmers have been left behind by the Government and they are feeling it more than ever this year.
Comment on this
Yes, absolutely. Fianna Fáil is calling for a roll-out of a hardship fund to assist farmers in buying feed and fodder and to help them cover mounting overheads. We would like to see a low-cost loan system in place for them. Like three quarters of the farmers in Ireland surveyed recently, we would like to see the €200 payment in the upcoming budget. We cannot let the farmers down again as we have done time and again. I am calling on the Taoiseach to look after the farmers in the budget. Since we have come back here there have been many protests on housing, children with disabilities and people crying for everything. We need to take to the streets because the Government is not delivering.