Mr. Brian Smyth:

The programme for Government mentions cross-Department actions and cross-department interaction. It is a great opportunity for the Department of agriculture to lead out on something that provides huge benefits in health and social care in children, equality, integration and in education. Bring those Departments together to say that social farming delivers. Farmers are delivering for our Department. This is something that could be taken up.

It is mentioned by the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, in the recently launched National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, when she talks about the cross-Department approach to addressing barriers for disabled people. Access to farming and access to social farming for disabled people is a cross-departmental barrier. I believe the Minister's Department can help and the Department of agriculture can help.

As Mr. McCrohan has said, it is about the expansion and development of the funding for the concept, regardless of which model people access or provide the support under. The cross-departmental work is important in an agricultural and rural development policy that the Department is funding, because they see the benefit of diversified farm income and multifunctionality. The other Departments have not stepped up to the same level and that should happen now. Even if that fund came through the Department of agriculture, the mechanism could be defined. That would be new and it would be innovative if there were two Departments working and one of them funding it. That would be new. For disabled people, people who are recovering, people who are homeless and people who are new to this country it could be delivered through a single Department. That could be the Department of agriculture because it has taken the lead.