It’s understood they will seek Government support to secure an import licence to purchase fertiliser overseas for their own use.

According to Independent TD Verona Murphy, who has thrown her support behind the proposal, Ireland’s fertiliser prices were “flatlining at €1,000 per tonne while our competitors next door are at €500 per tonne”, describing the situation as a “damning indictment of how much anything outside the M50 means to this Government”.

​“Farmers now realise the only way they, as primary producers, can ensure the sustainability of their farming income and activity is to have direct input into their cost base and for them to have direct involvement in the primary and secondary processing of their product,” said Ms Murphy.

“A large number of farmers have come together in the past week and agreed on the need to form a co-operative to import their own fertiliser needs on a not-for-profit merchant basis,” she said, calling on the Government to support the project.

Minister for State at the Department of Agriculture, Martin Heydon, said the issue of fertiliser import costs was a huge concern for the Government and that was why more than €90m in support had been provided to farmers in the last 12 months.

“We have also supported farmers with producer organisations and the establishment of same. We very much want to see more farmers work collectively on the sale of their produce, and the co-operative movement is something we support as well,” he said.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar also addressed concerns over fertiliser prices in the Dáil last week. He said he knew very high fertiliser prices have cancelled out a lot of the gains farmers had got from strong prices for what they produced.

However, he said he was not aware of the details of 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,” he said. “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.”

The Taoiseach was being questioned by Kerry Independent TD Danny Healy Rae, who said the issue was serious and was 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,” he said.

He called on the Government hold an investigation at a national and European level over the issue.

“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,” he said.

“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," he said.