Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the president for the presentation. It set out stark facts in terms of how the farming sector is critical now and in the future to sustaining rural communities across the country. Most of us who live in rural Ireland are either directly involved in farming or are, at most, one generation away from it. When farming thrives, rural Ireland thrives. It is as simple as that.

I have some questions. Reference was made to an apprenticeship scheme, something of which I am not aware. I ask the delegation to expand on that because it sounds interesting and a little more than fascinating.

I refer to artisan food producers, that is, people who add value to their food product before it leaves the farm gate. The president of the IFA will be very familiar with the work of Ronan Byrne in the poultry sector in Athenry, Justin Flannery who is involved in the beef sector and Declan Droney who is doing extraordinary work with smoked salmon in Kinvara, all of whom are Galway-based farmers who have been exceptionally innovative in adding value to their products before they leave the farm gate.

Does the IFA see them as outliers or does it believe that there is significantly more potential for farmers to develop food products within the farm gate? What sort of activity is taking place in this area? Is there ongoing liaison or engagement with Teagasc on the significant potential of the sector? I may be mistaken in having the view that there is significant potential but when I see what local farmers are doing, I wonder whether the IFA sees that sector as a major opportunity for growth in the rural economy in the future.

I refer to micro-energy generation in terms of wind and perhaps photovoltaic cells. I cycled in rural France during August and lost count of the number of farmyards I came across where farm sheds were covered in photovoltaic cells. Any large roof spaces were covered. I spoke to one or two farmers who told me they easily covered their on-farm energy requirements and fed the excess back into the grid. Is that something that the IFA sees as having major potential for Irish farmers in the future?

I am more than familiar with greenways. I congratulate the IFA on the very proactive and supportive approach it has taken to the development of a national network of greenways. These routes offer significant potential to create tourism opportunities in parts of Ireland that have never seen tourism. East Galway is not exactly overrun with tourists and Mr. Joe Healy will agree with me on that. I congratulate the IFA on how supportive it has been. My assessment of the challenge that remains in delivering the greenway from Athlone to Galway is that the first attempt to find a route was exceptionally badly mismanaged by the NRA. There was little or no engagement with the farming community. In fact, the only engagement was to present the community with a route once it had been designed - in essence, it was a fait accompli. How can we overcome this problem? There was significant use of State-owned lands from Dublin to Athlone, yet west of Athlone such lands were not used. Instead, productive agricultural land was used. What is the solution? It is something I want to see happen, I hope in my lifetime. The potential is untapped and the IFA has a major role to play. It has been very proactive in the area. How do we get over the initial obstacles we encountered and make it happen?