Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a few concluding points. First, I want to acknowledge the Chair, who has made the meeting happen. He is absolutely committed to this and I say that genuinely to the witnesses here today. In the programme for Government, they talk about an amazing commitment to the horticultural sector and to growing the sector. We will have a major Food Wise conference in Dublin Castle tomorrow, yet we have a problem with peat here this evening. They will all be blabbering down in Dublin Castle and they will be high and mighty while talking about their Food Wise strategy going forward and the great potential of organics and the great potential of our food. That is an important point to make and I will be making that point in the Seanad tomorrow.

This meeting has been beneficial. We have gone around the houses and we know the story. We know the frustration and I think that is loud and clear. The witnesses have come here yet again to highlight and flag their concerns about their industry. They will be familiar with many a politician bellyaching about a problem that they are doing sweet damn all about. They have raised the stakes again and for that I thank them for coming here. I do not think it has been a wasted session; it has been good. Certainly, I was taken by Deputy Flaherty’s contribution here, which was honest and frank. He spoke of his disappointment and embarrassment, which was courageous of him as a member of the Government to say. We have to move on now. We have to mobilise in whatever way we can and I am committed to this, as I know are other Members in this House. They are in government, they are elected, they have made promises and they have reneged on them. They are not delivering, and we have to crank up the leverage on them. That is a task that we as politicians on the Opposition benches how have to do and we must collaborate on this across the Houses.

I want to ask Ms McManus one particular question on the mushroom sector. We have a good mushroom sector, although we may have problems at the moment, but will she tell us of the capacity to grow even further and to expand, given the medium of peat in the short term? I am conscious that in the mushroom sector there are some big boys and there are small growers involved. They loosely feed into a sort of co-operative movement or co-operation with some of the bigger ones in terms of transport and the financing and leasing of their vehicles. Many small guys cannot carry it on their own so they need to be tied in contractually. I am aware of the financial support that some of the big producers give to assist smaller growers in terms of growing and access to the market, which is critical for them and comes with critical mass and also with the transport costs. They are all specialised areas and they need to have all those layers in place to sustain their business. Many small businesses have it. In terms of the mushroom sector, are we going to see significant job losses in the next 12 months?