Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputies McConalogue, Cahill and Martin Kenny for their questions. I will try to deal with them all in sequence. I am a little surprised by Deputy McConalogue's opening remarks referring to the Private Members' motion and trying somehow to imply that I am reluctant to be here. I am attending this meeting because this is the vehicle, as I understand it, agreed through the Business Committee. The Government does not control the committee and I am happy to account to it in the context of the Dáil motion. It must be an uncomfortable truth for Deputy McConalogue that the Dáil motion was predicated on support for the suckler sector coming from an alleged underspend in the rural development programme. It is clearly the case that the underspend is a myth, and the Deputy has continued trying to perpetuate that myth. The facts clearly demonstrate-----