Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have three relatively succinct questions. I am unsure whether I agree with my colleague, Deputy Keaveney, on the link between live exports and the suckler cow premium. Nevertheless, there is a necessity to keep open the live exports channel. While the great majority of live exports of calves are not from suckler cow herds but from dairy herds at present, it is necessary to keep open that channel to ensure the factories do not have a monopoly. What can the Department do in this economic climate to ensure that?

Second, I am not being politically disingenuous, as I realise this decision primarily will be made by my Labour Party colleague, Deputy Quinn, but does the Minister agree with the differentiation between productive and non-productive assets? It is a budgetary decision, albeit not in agriculture, to differentiate between productive and non-productive assets in respect of third level grants.

Finally, everything the Government does and every measure the Government takes in cutting expenditure must be considered in the context of the effect it will have on job creation. One issue the Government has been pressing is food and whether incentives might be put in place. Again, this may be an issue that is more for the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, and my Labour Party colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, and I am not being disingenuous in this regard. However, can measures be put in place to incentivise investment in secondary and tertiary production in the food sector and in plants to that effect?