Mr. Seán McCabe:

I share the Deputy's experience on bones and running off with them. With the greatest of respect, I also grew up in rural Ireland and laboured on a farm, although I did not grow up on one. I understand the enormous contribution farmers have made to this country and it is on their backs that much of our prosperity has been built, particularly during the era of co-operatives and when those co-operative abattoirs or creameries created ten or 15 jobs in communities across rural Ireland. The resounding point I heard over and over again was that the closure of the co-operatives was the mistake that was made in the history of development.

I am not trying to lecture the Deputy as an expert but I am trying to express what I heard from farmers when I carried out an intentional listening exercise in going around this country. They are the experts and if we centre their opinions we will reach a good and better solution to this that pays farmers well, allows rural Ireland to prosper and diversifies income where necessary. It is a real win-win. The only people who may not win are the people currently profiting massively from the system as it is. We have to ask ourselves how many people are profiting massively from the system as it is. Is it the majority of farmers? It is not.

I am not lecturing the Deputy. I am just saying what I have heard. I have heard farmers struggling. I have heard people say they are concerned that they will have to leave their farms and move away from traditional farming. One then sees conglomeration, the concentration of land into the hands of individuals. That will soon be the concentration of land into the hands of corporations and we will have Nestlé farms and Danone farms in Ireland. We need to take clear stock of where we are at, listen to farmers and the situation they are facing. We must ensure that climate action improves their lot, and it can do, but we need to stop the myths about how it will destroy Irish farming. It will not. It may provide a new lease of life for farming.