Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for attending and for this detailed and clearly laid out briefing. Going through it beforehand was useful. This might be an unfair question for the Minister, but how does the figure of 8.8% for administration costs benchmark with other Departments? My question might be a little out of left field.

Under office equipment, including IT, there has been an increase from €17.4 million to €20.1 million. Is this due to the additional IT cost of setting up a new payment system following the change in the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP? What benefits will be seen from the extra expenditure?

Given the decrease in respect of Teagasc, is Teagasc allowed to apply this cut as it sees fit or has the Department discussed with it how best to make savings without impacting on the important research, training and advisory services that it provides?

I am mindful of the fact that the horse and greyhound industry is worth almost €1 billion to our economy and employs more than 16,000 people. I am on record as stating that we need to move to a multi-annual framework of funding, thereby providing the industry with greater certainty. We should also consider other mechanisms to provide funding to the industry. Will the Minister expand on these issues?