Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests again for their very informative presentations. I have some questions for our guests from Teagasc. Am I correct that there are approximately 140,000 farm families in the country? What number of people are likely to be working on a farm on any given day, apart from people who would come on to farms to deal with farmers?

Are we talking about 200,000 people at least? How many of those people are on Teagasc's books? In the earlier session, Councillor Pat Dolan referred to the half-day course provided by Teagasc, which comes at a cost of €25. I am aware there are other educational initiatives, and there is the website material and so on. While I am conscious of not making myself unpopular with fellow people from a farming background, has any thought been given to making some of those courses compulsory or tying them in with single farm payments, or would that cause a revolution? How does one get people to do basic compliance?