Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept that the delegates probably cannot answer my initial question about aid for the beef industry. However, I am concerned. Statistics in the past five years show that in excess of 2,000 families have left the land. There is constant decline. Having attended IFA and beef forum meetings in recent times, particularly on my side of the country where the suckler cow and suckler cow to beef sectors are so big, as mentioned, I note that many farmers are threatening to sell their land or turn it into forestry.

Like everybody else, I accept that there is a place for forestry, but we do not need a blanket of forests all over the place. Quite good land would be used for forestry. We all accept that there is land that can only be used for forestry, which is fine.

Are we not facing a difficult crisis? There are 70,000 people directly employed in the farming sector and this figure does not take into account the number involved in the production of food. I am talking about family farms and contractors, etc. It is a lot of people. The sector is under pressure. Is there a need for extra financial support for it, particularly in suckler cow production, on an ongoing basis as my party has proposed? We all welcome the €50 million from the Government, but it is only a stop-gap measure. A lot of good advice has been given by Teagasc during the years. As advisers to the farming community, do the delegates accept that there will be a need for extra financial support for the sector if it is to survive? If that does not happen, where will it be in ten years?