Mr. Dermot Kelleher:

I thank Deputy Browne for his question. The Mercosur deal, as it was, will be a total disaster for this country. At present, environmentalists are calling for our beef herd to be cut. Our suckler herd is probably the most efficient, grass-fed, environmentally friendly way of producing beef. If we outsource that to places like Brazil, where they cut down rainforests, we would be using air miles and ship miles and all this carry-on. Therefore, it does not make a whole pile of sense. Our suckler herd is very good. In all fairness, the suckler herd and the sheep flock are keeping the lights on in many rural parishes, especially in the western half of this country. That is why we need more funding and need it to be shared fairly. There is a duty of care on our Department and country to look after all farmers, even small drystock farmers. There has to be a duty of care to all farming families. We cannot be kicking them into touch because some other fellow says they are unviable. If you go into any mart in Ireland, you will see very few fellows. We will see the other fellows going home who are ageing. There is unviable and there is viable. If we take some of the Teagasc research farms, we would be all in the truck because their results were shocking. Any farmer with half a brain would not be as bad as them.