Mr. Tim Cullinan:

As the Deputy is aware, each farmer will have a different set of circumstances and a point where they are within their businesses. The most vulnerable ones will be those who fall off the wagon first. It may be that they have already extended credit for the feed they are buying from merchants. They will be the ones that will be under the most severe pressure at first. This is real; we are seeing it. I have spoken to people at midnight who have had to make the decision to give up. We all know about it here because we are all involved with agriculture in one way or another. Many of the people in this sector have been involved for many years. To have to make that decision, and for the person running the farm to have to come back home to a family and tell them that they have to give it up when they have been doing it for years, is heartbreaking. Most of the people involved in this sector built their businesses from the ground up - from very small units - over the years. It is heartbreaking for us to be here representing those core groups. The worry is that it started at around 7%, and we are now up at around 10%. The figures I referenced are Teagasc figures; they are not mine. If there is not proper intervention, the worry is that we are going to end up losing 30% of the sector. What happens then is that the entire sector becomes very vulnerable and unviable. What we will see then is that we will end up just supplying the domestic market. The whole system will become inefficient and we may lose a processing plant as well. That is the real concern. These are the key reasons why farmers and industry came together and are willing to put their own money on the table to protect the sector into the future.