Mr. Tom Murphy:

I would like to respond to the question on scrappage, if I may. People should not hold their breath in this regard. Scrappage would really be a subsidy on production. There is a very good, successful group of agricultural contractors who, over the past 50 years, have done work on farms. Even with scrappage, there would not be sufficient work on a farm to warrant the cost of buying a new tractor or machine.

On the question of safety, thank God fatalities have been rare among contractors in the past ten years, with just one fatality. That is down to the good offices of Mr. Dessie Cunningham and other contractors who keep their machinery well-maintained. That is the secret - maintaining machinery - which is why we believe testing of machinery has to come. It is the only way to bring safety on the farms.