Mr. Eddie Punch:

Ewe numbers are stable. There was a huge collapse in sheep numbers back in the 1990s when the subsidy system changed. We are close to the bottom number in terms of ewe numbers. The number of people involved in sheep farming has been stable enough at around 35,000 for a few years. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that in the hill areas, there is pressure on numbers because that is a very unprofitable business. The age issue is certainly becoming a factor there. Numbers are not going up but they are stable.