Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to our guests for having to leave to vote in the Seanad Chamber. I thank Professor Renwick, Mr. Bryan and Mr. Kilcline for attending today's meeting. I would like to ask about a matter that may have been dealt with while I was absent. The graph relating to sheep numbers and the MacSharry reforms makes interesting reading. Mr. Bryan will recall that when the sheep sector was going well, all the dairy men suddenly got into sheep. There was a photograph in the local newspapers of one of the biggest dairy men in County Kilkenny buying the four champion rams at a sale in Kilkenny. He is not involved in sheep production anymore. I do not know whether anybody has asked about the graph which suggests that every €1 of support underpins approximately €4 of output in the Irish economy. I presume that is an average figure. Has a survey of the micro aspects of this matter been done? Has that statistic been broken down to indicate whether somebody who receives support of €100, €200, €300 or €400 per hectare is putting more into the economy than someone who receives support of €50 per hectare?