Mr. John Fitzgerald:

Not all of them are still members but they would all have been members at different stages over the years. Three years after I qualified, we tried to get land leasing off the ground and organised several meetings on the issue in 1982 and 1983. However, the door was slammed in our faces in 1984 and the association came to a standstill for almost 30 years. We believe an opportunity is presenting and if the country does not avail of it, we will miss out on what New Zealand has gained since the 1980s when its production of milk increased from 7 billion litres to 17 billion litres per annum. While Ireland may not have the potential to increase output to that level, we could increase the current level of 6.5 billion litres to 8 billion or 9 billion litres. Everybody appreciates what that would mean to the economy.