Jennifer Whitmore
Wicklow · Social Democrats · Ireland
“The Minister for justice recently brought in reforms for the criminal justice legal aid system. While we all recognise that there is a need for reform within the system, the reforms that the Minister has brought in are ill-considered, not backed up by data or evidence and have led to absolute chaos in the courts system.”
“Hundreds of jurors were recently told that their services were no longer required. Many vulnerable people in the legal system are falling through gaps.”
“A hosepipe ban will come into force in a number of counties on the east coast from tomorrow. I completely understand that because we are seeing record temperatures and are in the middle of dealing with the climate crisis and climate change.”
“In 2024, 1,000 incidents of antisocial behaviour were recorded on Dublin Bus. That was nearly double the figure recorded just a few years earlier. Unfortunately, this is not just limited to Dublin. We are also seeing instances of this in my constituency, Wicklow, on Go-Ahead services.”
“More than 1,000 people died in Spain due to heat-related causes in June of this year alone. By early July, Spain had 14 major forest fires and 50,000 ha of land had been burned. Across Europe, more than 10,000 excess deaths associated with the recent heatwave were recorded in a single week. These warnings have to be taken seriously.”
“As a family member, you wonder if the person is getting care, whether they are being fed properly and whether they are being looked after. There is no visibility. There is a dementia care home in Shankill that a lot of people from my constituency use, St. Joseph's. It is incredible. I visited it recently.”
The complete record
Every one of 864 lines we hold for Jennifer Whitmore, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 18.
“Imagine not being able to go to the Dáil tomorrow because you have a flare up, you're bleeding so heavily, you can't stand straight due to pain and nausea? Imagine not doing a school run, having a child’s birthday party. Imagine a consultant not believing you when the equivalent pain of a ravaged ovary is being stabbed. Imagine being in so much pain, you can’t stand and you won’t go to A&E because they won’t believe you or just say, it’s [just your] period. I’m in this position now because for years and years, we’ve been told , there is nothing wrong with us and our disease has festered. [...] Fertility and endometriosis, have taken away joy, hope, love and much more. Ireland has also not had my back with zero support.”
“I advocated for myself, I self diagnosed myself, I urged a consultant to listen to me and get a treatment plan in place. I have lost an ovary, the disease destroyed my ovary. The disease also nearly took away my Bowel. I now live in fear this disease will take this in the near future. Endometriosis has taken away, and cost me too much. I can’t attend classes I’ve signed up to, I can’t attend birthday parties, weddings and family gatherings a lot of the time. I had to tell “I told you so” when the consultant debriefed me after my surgery to tell me, how scary the surgery was for me and how badly ravaged my insides were. I look normal and healthy from the outside. I vomit with the severe pain before I join work calls and spend time presenting to my colleagues. I have chronic fatigue, migraines and these are my day to day.”
“Here we are doing it again. A constituent sent me an email and I think it would far outweigh any speech I could give tonight: To date, endometriosis has cost me [where I could see] having a family of my own, I may never be a mother despite best efforts and emotional, financial and physical stress through self funded IVF for many years now. Endometriosis has cost me days and days off from my job. Luckily I have a good employer and I can work from home.... I really feel for those that have jobs that will not allow for this crippling disease. I have been ignored and pushed aside for so many years. I pleaded with consultants to believe that I was in crippling pain for 10 days [every] 21 days cycle. I had 11 days respite if I was lucky to feel normal.”
“I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion forward and I welcome everyone in the Gallery. Here we go again. At what stage will we provide women with the support, healthcare, care and attention that they deserve? We are in a situation where we are failing a generation of women all over again. One in ten women suffer from endo. We are sending them overseas. We are ignoring their symptoms, their pain and their trauma. We are telling them it is in their heads, to suck it up, to take some aspirin and to go home and continue with their lives but that is just not possible. Probably the worst part is that women are not being believed and are being ignored when they go to their GPs in crippling pain. I cannot believe we have not learned yet and as a society or country we have not taken on board all the previous times when we have failed women.”
“They have spent all that time fighting and pushing for their trauma to be acknowledged and for them to be recognised. I welcome the fact that the Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond, in the Seanad in recent weeks has acknowledged the difficult time those victims experienced. He called it out for the historical injustice that it is and gave a personal commitment to get the institution included in the redress scheme. He also said the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, would also support that, not in this scheme but in the previous scheme. I welcome that move and I absolutely will work with him as much as possible to get this done. These people have been calling for this for many years, so I hope that in this term of Government, finally, they will be heard and acknowledged.”
“They were used as forced labour. They were trafficked up to the North to unregistered foster homes. They were used for fundraising purposes by the woman who ran that home. She treated them absolutely awfully. The children even lost their names in that process. They all had to have her name, Mathers, so they did not know who they were and it was years before many of them even realised that their own brothers and sisters were living with them in that home. It is really awful that the trauma of the children - they are adults now - who suffered at the hands of that woman was not acknowledged by the State and was left out of the mother and baby home scheme. They asked in 2014 and James Reilly at that stage refused to incorporate them into it.”
“I welcome this Bill and acknowledge the fact that the Minister has progressed this very quickly in her position. My colleagues will go into more detail about the specifics of the Bill, but I will just use these few minutes to ask that when the Government is looking at this redress scheme it learns from previous redress schemes and the mistakes we have made in the past. Oftentimes our previous redress schemes retraumatised and really failed people over and over again in the most public and inhumane way. I want to talk specifically about Westbank Orphanage in Greystones, Wicklow. There were 30 to 50 children in Westbank Orphanage at any one time. It moved to Wicklow in the 1940s and closed its doors only in 2002. The children within that orphanage were beaten with electric flexes and coat hangers. They were starved.”
“I raise a commitment and a promise that was made by the former Minister for Health to cancer groups across Wicklow last October. The former Minister promised funding for a number of cancer care groups, namely, Purple House Cancer Support, Arklow Cancer Support, Greystones Cancer Support, Wicklow Cancer Support, Rathdrum Cancer Support, Roundwood Cancer Support and West Wicklow Cancer Support. None of those groups have received that funding. I have seen correspondence from the former Minister where he said that funding would be recurrent funding, no matter the affiliation with the NCCP. The Tánaiste and I both well know the amazing work these cancer groups do in County Wicklow. Will he make sure that commitment made by his former Government colleague is kept?”
“We need it to put in place the actions that will ensure the data is available and there is transparency so we know who is making a profit and we know exactly why prices are going up for so many families across the country. It is time for the Government to do that. Rather than coming into the Chamber and talking nicely about understanding and feeling everybody's pain, it should just do something. We are asking for simple actions and want to see movement on it.”
“The Minister of State at the time, Deputy Richmond, talked very tough. He brought in representatives of the supermarkets and told them to make changes. He said: "We can get prices down, particularly on the staple necessary goods. The private sector has to step up to the plate on this." That has not happened. The supermarkets are clearly ignoring the Government. We do not need the private sector to voluntarily step up to the plate. It is not going to do that. The supermarkets are making enormous profits. Why would they do anything that the Government is not asking them to do? We need the Government to step up to the plate.”
“It is not going to take any more from them to publish it. The Government is simply refusing even to ask that of them. The Minister of State should not tell me that the Government understands, is listening, hears people's concerns and is doing everything possible. It clearly is not. We are not asking the Government to move heaven and earth to do this. We are looking for transparency and information on the supermarkets' profits. This has been an ongoing issue for many years. All the families watching today know that because they feel those pressures in their pockets. They know what they have to sacrifice from their family budgets to put food on the table for their children. They know the difficulties it is causing for them. In 2023, the Government stated it would deal with the issue.”
“We are just asking it to regulate the big profit makers a little more. That is all. We want transparency in profits. We need to know who is making these profits and on whose backs they are making them. There are five supermarket giants in Ireland. We are not talking about small corner shops or other small retailers. We are talking about the large supermarket giants, namely, Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and SuperValu. The grocery sector in Ireland is worth €15 billion. It is an incredibly profitable industry yet this Government refuses even to ask those supermarkets to comply with the basics by publishing their profits. Do not tell me that it is a huge administrative process for them to come up with their profits because I bet they are boasting about those profits to their shareholders every single quarter. They have that information.”
“Here are the pure, basic facts. Grocery prices have gone up 36% since 2021. That is an additional €3,000 on an average family grocery shop. It is an incredible increase and it is putting huge pressure on families. Some 71% of Irish families say they are very concerned about food prices and we have seen that four in ten parents skip meals so their children can eat. That is a national statistic - four in ten parents. This is a major problem. I will give another fact as well. It is a clear and unfortunate fact that the Government simply does not care. The facts are there and, despite those facts and the pressures being put on people, it is refusing to do even the basics to try to stop it. The Social Democrats have put forward simple asks today. They will not cost the Government any money.”
“Part of the privilege of being in government is that the Minister of State can intervene. She can change the law, empower regulators and force supermarkets to publish their profits. The big question the Minister of State needs to answer today is why the Government has done none of these things. Why is the Cabinet acting like bystanders, narrating a problem instead of doing anything? I implore the Government to get its act together, support our motion and take immediate action.”
“It talks about rapid price increases when Russia invaded Ukraine, as if the crisis ended there. However, what is not acknowledged is that those prices never came down and now grocery costs are skyrocketing again while the Government sits idly by and watches it happen. Has the Minister of State paid her electricity bill? Will I just continue?”
“To achieve clarity on this, we want the Government to grant the Agri-Food Regulator the powers it needs to compel the provision of necessary price and market information from relevant businesses in the agrifood supply chain. This is not just something the Social Democrats want; the Agri-Food Regulator also wants it. Its chairperson, Joe Healy, wrote to the Minister in September 2024, asking for these powers. He did so when its investigation of the egg supply chain had to be scrapped when businesses in the sector refused to co-operate. Nearly a year later, the Agri-Food Regulator is still waiting for these powers but the Government has not provided them. When the Government talks about the crisis in grocery prices it tends to do so in the past tense.”
“It seeks to amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 to grant the regulator the statutory authority to compel the disclosure of information when carrying out market studies. This is what happens in other countries like the UK, so why is it not happening here? We also want the Government to act on another area. Not only is there a complete lack of transparency about supermarket profits, it is also completely unclear how much profit goes to producers, processors and retailers in that food chain. We urgently need clarity on the way in which margins are spread out. As it stands, it appears that the lion's share of the profits often go to processors or big retailers.”
“It has no powers to properly investigate this issue and get to the bottom of it. That is why the news that it is to reopen its probe into the Irish grocery retail sector is so underwhelming. The last time it looked at this issue, in 2023, when prices were rising by double-digit figures, it said, "There is nothing to see here." It found nothing. Since then, prices have continued to rise but the Government has refused to give the regulator more powers. What makes anyone think that this latest probe will be any different? After all, it is hard to do an investigation like this when the Government has tied the regulator's hands behind its back. That is why our motion makes an important demand.”
“At the time, the Social Democrats asked the Government to compel supermarket chains to reveal their profits but it did not do so. That is why we are back again today, calling on it to do so. The grocery market in Ireland is worth at least €8 billion per year, so why is there so little transparency about profits? Does the Minister of State not find that odd or a little bit worrying? Many of us have long suspected that consumers in Ireland are being gouged by large supermarket chains that use their operations as a cash cow. However, without full transparency on profit levels, it is very difficult to prove this. It is also very difficult for the consumer regulator, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, to do anything other than issue bland statements because, in reality, it has no teeth.”
“Back then, the Minister of State with responsibility for retail, Deputy Neale Richmond, convened a supermarket summit - an emergency meeting of the retail forum. This sounded really good; it sounded strong and very positive. He talked tough at the time and said he was giving supermarkets six weeks to bring down the cost of groceries, but the reality was somewhat different. He turned up, wagged his finger and everyone went home. The supermarket summit was a complete capitulation by the Government. It was a talking shop and, unfortunately, appeared to be convened only for optics that everybody quickly forgot about. Not only was this an abject failure, it just seemed like the Government could not be bothered to put pressure on the supermarkets. There are solutions. There are things that can be done.”
“Any unforeseen expense, such as a washing machine breaking or a car needing repair, can throw family budgets into chaos. According to a recent credit union consumer sentiment survey, 15% of Irish consumers would be unable to cope with an unforeseen expense of €1,000. To put it in context, that is exactly how much the Government will be looking for from parents for college fees this October. I do not know whether the Government is out of touch, simply does not care or is just not bothered. I hope that is not the case but I really cannot understand why the Government has not tried to tackle this issue. Maybe the Minister of State can explain that, if not to me, then to anyone watching this who is struggling to feed their family. The last time the Government said it would do anything was in 2023.”
“The fact is that Ireland is a wealthy country and people should not have to struggle just to survive but this is what we are talking about here, the cost of simply existing in this country, putting a roof over one's head, keeping the lights on and keeping food on the table. More and more people are finding this completely unaffordable. They spend all of their time desperately trying to keep their heads above water and every waking minute worrying about how they are going to pay the bills. They are scrimping and saving, not for a family holiday or a treat for their children, but simply for basic food. The negative impact this is having on people's well-being is enormous. The Minister of State will understand that constantly treading water and trying to keep one's head above is exhausting and draining.”
“This should not be coming as news to the Government. We are not relying on anecdotal evidence when we say prices are skyrocketing; we now have a mountain of data to back this up. As recently as yesterday, Barnardos published a shocking report which found that four in ten parents are skipping meals so their children have enough to eat. Last Friday, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul revealed that nearly half of its calls this year were about the single issue of grocery prices. Earlier this year, an ESRI study found that more than 60% of people had cut back on groceries to save money. This is not a niche issue or one that is only impacting on a small number of people. The scale of these increases means that huge numbers of lower- and middle-class families are finding things increasingly difficult.”
“The cost of living is out of control and this is nowhere more evident than on supermarket shelves. The scale and the speed at which prices are increasing is astronomical and there is no sign of it slowing down. In a few short years, the costs for families has increased by €3,000 per year. Grocery costs are now skyrocketing at three times the rate of inflation. Anyone doing their shopping will have noticed it; I am sure the Minister of State has noticed it. Trips to the shop to pick up a few items are increasingly costly. A person can now spend €50 on groceries and carry them out in their hands. This is an indication of how few items one can now buy with €50. These soaring prices are particularly difficult for parents trying to feed children or for pensioners on fixed incomes, who are now cutting back on groceries just to make ends meet.”
“convened a supermarket summit, an emergency meeting of the retail forum; — Minister of State Richmond gave supermarkets six weeks to bring down the cost of groceries, but failed to ask them to reveal their profits; — the meeting was a failure and in the more than two years since that meeting, prices have continued to soar; and — there is a commitment in the Programme for Government to "strengthen competition by promoting price transparency in all sectors"; believes that: — there is a lack of transparency around supermarket profits that is not acceptable given sustained and soaring prices; — it is also unclear how much profit goes to producers, processors, and retailers in the chain; — consumers have a right to know whether surging grocery prices reflect genuine input cost increases or price gouging; and — accounting transparency by large grocery retailers is essential to protect household budgets, restore consumer trust, and ensure fairness in one of the most critical markets for Irish consumers; and calls on the Government to: — introduce legislation requiring all grocery retailers operating in Ireland with annual turnover above €10 million to publish full audited annual financial accounts; — ensure that this requirement applies to all operators, whether Irish-incorporated or foreign branches, ensuring no retailer can claim foreign registration to evade transparency obligations; — monitor and publish regular reports on the impact of this transparency initiative on grocery price inflation and competition in the retail sector; — grant the Agri-Food Regulator the powers it needs to "compel the provision of necessary price and market information from relevant businesses in the agri-food supply chain, in order to fulfil its price and market data analysis function", as requested of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine by the Chairperson of the Regulator's Board in September 2024; and — amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 to grant the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission statutory authority to compel the disclosure of information when carrying out market studies in line with powers already available in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — households across the country are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living soars; — more than 70 per cent of people in Ireland are either, "extremely" or "very" concerned about the cost of groceries, according to the recent PwC's Voice of the Consumer Survey 2025; — many families are now spending €3,000 more a year on groceries than they were in 2021; — grocery prices have increased by nearly 40 per cent in the past four years, while the increase in the Consumer Price Index, over the same period, is 21 per cent; — grocery prices have increased at three times the rate of general inflation over the past year alone; — sky-rocketing grocery prices have been coupled with huge increases in other household costs, like energy and rent, and are putting a huge strain on low- and middle-income families; — according to a recent Credit Union Consumer Sentiment survey, 15 per cent of Irish consumers would be unable to cope with a financial emergency costing €1,000; — the number of children living in consistent poverty nearly doubled, to more than 100,000, in 2024; and — the Children's Rights Alliance Chief Executive Officer, Tanya Ward, has described the cumulative impact of continued rising costs as "a landslide effect" for low-income families, meaning that basic necessities, such as nutritious food or a warm home have become increasingly difficult; further notes that: — on 10th May, 2023, then Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond T.D.”
“Successive Governments have failed to protect our river bodies, lakes and estuaries. In the 1980s, there were 500 pristine river bodies in this country. We are now down to 20, so we can see the scale of the problem. The reality is the changes will be very difficult to farmers to comply with. I argue they will be near impossible. There is a responsibility on the Government to ensure that farmers are supported to make this change. What is the transition plan? We need to take our heads out of the sand. The reality is it is unlikely we will achieve this derogation. What is the Government's plan to support farmers? Where is its plan B?”
“I welcome our visitors to the Gallery. The European Commission has just raised the bar for Irish farmers when it comes to compliance with the nitrates directive. The intervention by Europe is welcome because successive Governments have failed to protect our river bodies.”
“It has lost a teaching post, which means that one of its classes will be 39 pupils in size, which is in no way acceptable for any school. I wanted to put those points on the record but I have a long list of schools that have difficulties and problems. For whatever reason, the system and process are not reactive to their needs. It is not meeting them where they need to be met. It is like the whole process and everything has stopped or slowed down. Those schools need to be ready to go in September. They will have to have the staffing they need, whether it is teaching posts or SNA supports. It is something that has to be looked at and if the Minister of State could pass that on, I would be very grateful.”
“I refer in particular to two special schools - Marino Community Special School and New Court School, both of which have major difficulties with SNA supports. Indeed, Marino's review was cancelled two days before it was due to happen. There are also other schools in the area where there are difficulties. There were two SNAs in Scoil na Coróine Mhuire and one of them has been cancelled. That school is in dire straits. It was appealing that but the appeal process was stopped. Hopefully, it is moving again but it absolutely needs that SNA support. Dominican College in Wicklow had received permission to open an ASD classroom this year but that was cancelled. That is another issue. Gaelscoil Uí Chéadaigh in Bray does not have an SNA issue but it has a staffing one.”
“I thank the Minister of State. That is very welcome and I think there is a solution here. Hopefully, if he talks to the Minister - I have mentioned it to her myself - we can get someone to visit. In my remaining time, I want to put something else in the education area on the record. We are seeing major issues with the NCSE and a sort of stoppage of processes. I think it is moving to a new process or a new scheme or system. What seems to have happened is that anything that was under consideration has been stalled and principals are now being told it will come back to them in the next school year. That means those schools are not ready for September. They do not have the places and they do not have the SNA supports.”
“In the interim, and as an emergency need, we need a departmental official to go to Wicklow town to meet the six principals. All those schools have finished up for the summer. Those children do not know where they are going and they have to do things like getting uniforms. The children need to be prepared. They are simple things but they are so important for a good transition. Those children will not be prepared for school. In addition, the staff will be expected to perhaps set up new classes but the schools are closed. It will be logistically difficult. I ask that a departmental official is sent immediately to sit down with those principals and come up with a solution.”
“I believe one of the schools has the capacity for an extra school class, which might suit junior infants. Obviously, someone needs to look at each of the years and work out a solution for each of those. There might be potential for some movement in other schools as well. This also identifies a more ongoing issue. It is one we have seen in Wicklow for years. When I moved to Wicklow 15 or 16 years ago, I could not get my child into a school. The problem was starting then. There was a big population increase. What we are now seeing is that cohort and that increase in population moving from north Wicklow down and across the county. We need a new school in Newtownmountkennedy and there is certainly capacity for a new primary school in the Wicklow town and Rathnew area, but that is probably a longer discussion.”
“Their fears have come to fruition. The Department was in contact with them and asked them to identify how many unique children who had no place were on the waiting list. They identified 119 primary school children who do not have a place in any of those six schools for September. Of the students, 36 are junior infants and the rest of them are spread across the other school years. That clearly demonstrates that these are existing families who moved into the area and might have a child in second class or fourth class. Those children need places in their hometowns. They will not be able to get to Dublin to attend school there. That is not feasible. I ask the Minister of State and the Minister for education to send someone to sit down with the six school principals because they want to find a solution.”
“I want to raise with the Minister of State a really urgent and time-sensitive issue. As he is well aware, Wicklow town and Rathnew have seen a huge population increase in recent years. We have probably had 800 to 1,000 new homes built there. Very many of them are family homes for young families. We have seen people coming from other counties into the area. I was made aware last week that there is a major issue in regard to primary school places. There are six primary schools in the area: St. Coen's, St. Patrick's, Holy Rosary School, Glebe National School, Educate Together and Gaelscoil Chill Mhantáin. All six of those schools came together in January because they had identified a capacity issue. They raised concerns with the Department in January saying that they believed they would be absolutely oversubscribed for September.”
“The Minister is clearly not listening to what I am saying and, what is worse, he is clearly not listening to what parents and students are saying at the moment. They believed the Government when it said in the programme for Government that it would continue to reduce student fees. They believed it when it said that. It could not be any simpler. The question is this. Is the Government going to keep its promise or is it going to break its promise? That is the question for the Minister. Will parents be paying €2,000 in September or will they be paying €3,000? Do not answer me. Answer all of the parents out there who are asking that question. At least give them the respect of giving them that information so they can plan their budgets for September.”
“This Government promised to reduce college fees and the Minister should have no problem today in clarifying whether it is going to keep to the commitment that it made. Will the Minister tell Elaine and all of those other parents out there whether or not they will see an increase in college fees come September? Will they be required to pay €2,000 or €3,000?”
“They believed the promises in the programme for Government that they would reduce college fees and they have been betrayed. They have learned that this Government cannot be trusted and that its promises are not worth the paper they are written on. Students and families have been led down the garden path by this Government and they are absolutely sick of its games. I am astonished that the Minister thinks it is okay to tell families, “Wait until the budget and we will clarify matters for you.” That is four months away. Students and families cannot budget like that. They need to make plans now. They do not have a grand or three down the back of the sofa that they can easily pull out. They will need to scrimp and save and sacrifice to cover this increase. Does the Minister not understand that? Does he not get that?”
“She has already told her children they cannot go to college in Dublin because accommodation is too expensive and now she is worried about how she will cover student fees, which are increasing for her from €2,000 to €6,000. Elaine told “Liveline” that she and her family went on a foreign holiday recently. It was the third time they have been abroad in 22 years and now she really regrets that decision because she does not know if she can afford to send her children to college. There are thousands of families all over the country in exactly the same boat that Elaine is in. They have built family budgets on commitments given by the Minister and his colleagues. They believed Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael when they promised to reduce fees during the election.”
“When will the Government get its act together and level with parents and students? It has been five days since the higher education Minister took to the airways and dropped the bombshell that parents and students will have to find another €1,000 to fund college before September. He did not try to sugar-coat that news; it was quite the opposite. He said, "All of us in any walk of life have to play the hands we are dealt." It was utterly galling and incredibly tone deaf; a member of Government actively stacking the deck against students and families, essentially telling them to suck it up - that is what he said - and play the bum hand they have been dealt. Elaine is one parent who is trying her best to play the hand she was dealt. She has one daughter going to college and another starting in September.”
“The approach that has been taken to date is not getting it right. Unfortunately, it seems that badger culling is going to be a key component of the Minister's reforms going forward. I cannot see the evidence for that so I would really appreciate if he could send it to me.”
“I would be really keen if the Minister could send me the studies and evidence that show transmission of TB from badgers to cattle and the incidence. If a badger has TB that is not a good thing for the badger, but the Department culled nearly 7,500 badgers last year and 20% of them had TB. The culling involves snares which not only is an incredibly inhumane way for an animal to die but it is not targeted. It also kills dogs, lambs, and foxes, where they have been disemboweled or have had to chew their own leg off to get away from the snare. This is a really aggressive, inhumane way of culling. I would really like to see the evidence to show this is what is actually going to assist farmers. This programme has gone on for about 70 years now. We spend billions on this every year. We need to get it right for the farmers.”
“It is about husbandry, stock intensity, the biosecurity measures and supporting farmers to do that. If we are being led by science, as we absolutely need to be, we must be really clear about badgers and their role, or non-role, in this. We are culling a significant number of badgers and it is not having the desired impact anyway.”
“I do not think anyone is underestimating or minimising the absolute devastation when a farmer realises they have TB in their herd. As the Minister says, it is not just a financial but also an emotional shock and trauma for the family. The most important thing to do is put in place a system that is going to work for them. The Minister talks about being led by science. I cannot see any definitive scientific evidence to show that badgers are responsible for the spread of TB. Actually, it is the opposite. In 2022 England conducted a study on this and found there was no significant evidence to show any impact on badger TB with the herd. Indeed, Scotland has been TB-free since 2009 and they do not cull at all. If we look internationally and see where it works and where it is being done properly, badger culling does not play a part in it.”
“In providing the additional powers, is the Minister considering the likes of the large supermarkets and their profits? Obviously, we have a cost-of-living crisis and food prices are rising continually, and farmers are continuing to get less and less for their produce. One of the pieces of the data jigsaw that is missing concerns how much supermarkets are making in this country. Supermarkets must provide their data publicly in the UK, but when they have an Irish arm they have no obligation to provide the associated data on a quarterly basis. Will the Minister consider such provision as part of the process?”
“I thank the Minister. It is welcome that he is in the process of granting or providing the powers but we need to see a timeline. It has been quite a while since the regulators themselves raised the gaps in their powers and it is important that we see movement on this, particularly given how grocery prices are increasing at present. Members of the public need transparency when purchasing products so they will know where their money is going. There also needs to be fairness for producers. The risk – I think this is what is happening – is that producers will not get their fair share of the value of their produce. Therefore, the information is absolutely required. It is important that the regulator can get whatever data it needs to inform its analysis of pricing. Could the Minister give me a timeline for achieving this?”
“The establishment of the Agri-Food Regulator was a very welcome move but the body clearly does not have sufficient teeth. The regulators themselves have requested additional powers. When will the body be granted additional powers of compellability and could the Minister make a statement on the matter?”
“I ask the Minister of State to provide some information on the point that process has reached. I am interested in hearing when a decision will be made. The reality is that, in the absence of data, the fundamental approach to take with any stock is the precautionary principle. That essentially means working on a risk-averse basis. We are not doing that at the moment, and it is important we do. Depending on the outcome of the Minister of State's consultation and decision, I am very concerned that even with that decision in place, we do not know enough about this stock to ensure sustainable fishing of it. Would he consider a moratorium on the entire stock on a short-term basis until we have the data and evidence to show we can protect the species for future fishing, and not just from an ecological perspective?”
“It is really important that we have the data available so we can make decisions, not just fisheries decisions but ecological and environmental decisions.”
“I thank the Minister of State. Sprat is not economically important. It is quite a low-value fishery but it is ecologically valuable. Everything feeds on it, from fish, whales and dolphins to seabirds. If we do not have sprat, we do not have those other species. Unfortunately, we are in a situation where, because it has not been deemed economically valuable enough, we do not have stock assessments. There has not been a TAC conducted on sprat. That is now causing huge problems because we do not have sufficient data to manage this important species. While I know the Marine Institute has been doing some analysis, it is not sufficient. This is a short-lived species, living for only four years. If there is major overfishing, which it is indicated is happening in some areas, that stock will collapse in the areas in question.”