Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Matthews. We are and will continue to take many steps to support farmers. We discussed the €60 million water project, which I announced in the last few weeks. There is also the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, in which record numbers are participating. It makes a significant contribution in this regard, as do some of the other schemes I have introduced over the last couple of years, for example, multi-species sward grant aid, in which there has been a strong uptake by farmers, and the soil testing programme and support, in which there has been a strong uptake by farmers also. The liming programme is another example in relation to keeping a focus on soil fertility. All are grants put in place over the last couple of years for which farmers have had a strong appetite and can make a difference and contribute to the progress we need to make.