Mr. Joe Healy:

The IFA is fully supportive of the eradication programme. We have played along with it and supported it in every way we could. That support from farmers cannot be taken for granted. The cost to farmers currently is disproportionate. It is up to the Department and the Minister to act. If there had been an adequate response from the Department in time to bovine viral diarrhoea, BVD, we would have addressed it at this stage but there was not. We can at least learn from that. It is up to the Minister and the Department to do something. We have outlined what needs to be done in our submission. Farmers will not be found wanting if the support and infrastructure are put in place by the Department.