Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As there are no other members wishing to contribute, I thank our guests from the FCI for attending the meeting and making their presentation to the committee. It was a worthwhile presentation. I may not agree 100% with everything they said today but what I agree with fundamentally is that the farming sector cannot survive without contractors. We need a viable contract service. It is more important now than it ever was. I fully support that. The committee will keep in correspondence with the FCI. If it has points it wishes to make, this forum is open to it. We have had a very good exchange of views. Our guests made a very good presentation that outlined the problems facing their sector, which are very difficult, it must be admitted. Although rising costs are affecting farmers, they will also have a serious impact on contractors. There are labour shortages. I refer to the need to embrace modern technology and the benefit of such technology in the reduction of emissions, which is a target to which the industry has to face up to. There is a need to use all that modern technology to that end. I accept there are significant benefits to be had from embracing it. Members have made the point that some of the machinery that is needed cannot just be on an individual farm basis. It may be that a contractor can afford such machinery and could work for a cohort of farmers. I thank our guests for their presentation. That concludes our proceedings for today. Does Mr. Hughes wish to comment?