Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I listen to him. He is great. I would like to know what the major drawback is.

Another thing surprises me. The Minister came through the system. He was in Macra na Feirme and many other organisations. Macra na Feirme has been advocating for a renewal of the installation aid scheme. The Minister has done a good deal for young farmers, in fairness. When a young person is taking over a farm many hidden extras arise. In fairness, the Minister has done a good deal in the recent budget and recent changes have been most helpful. I was a great advocate of the installation aid scheme. It was only €7,500 but that aid was vital. I know many young farmers took over during the 1990s and that was great.

Deputy Cahill made reference to the Brexit loan scheme and I know what he means. He referred to the scheme by analogy as a cash flow scheme brought in by the Minister. I hope the €25 million will help ordinary farmers with the response to Brexit. I hope it is not too curtailed. I presume the Department will use the banks again for the Brexit loan scheme. I presume it will be modelled on the previous scheme but I hope it is not as restrictive.

I am delighted with the Bord Bia measure. One organisation I always advocate for is Bord Bia. Bord Bia has done a great job and has a great record. During Aidan Cotter's time in the organisation the amount of positive work done was extraordinary, as was the number of graduates trained. Many of those who graduated through Bord Bia are all over the world. A significant number are in America and they are being head-hunted. That is a tribute to the skills they acquired from Bord Bia. I would like to see more of them kept within Bord Bia.

With the wage structures available and the category of graduates coming from Bord Bia, they will be snapped up by other organisations. We need them now and over the next three to five years. This may be heresy but it is important that the Minister would go to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and make a case for trying to retain a number of those people. They are exceptionally good graduates and they are very talented. I am acutely aware that a number of them are being head-hunted by various organisations in America. As soon as they are in one job in America, they are head-hunted from that job. It is not the most popular thing to say but because of what we must face over the next two or three years in the context of Brexit, we need those types of people with particular skills and expertise. I would like to see us in the position to retain and reward them accordingly.