Natasha Newsome Drennan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)

I will heckle all I want when it comes to farming. The Deputy can try to stop me.

There is obviously a disconnect between the witnesses and the Department, and between them and Teagasc. There is €26 million a year going for the same advice the witnesses are basically providing. What are they spending that on? Those are questions that need to be answered. There is also the €80 million for research and education.

I go to the Department website to register my calves. I have a password to get in there and I put in whatever I want then log off, and nobody else has access to that information. It is my farm and my information, so if I decide I do not like the guy in Teagasc down beside me and I do not think he is doing the best for my farm and decide to go to a private company, I should be absolutely entitled to do that. With housing, there is room for everybody. There has to be room for a private entity here as well. It is the farmer's information, so if I decide to give that information to the witnesses and they have access to my account, who is the Department to say that I cannot pass it to somebody else? What is the disconnect? I can say, because I am in opposition, that it is all very rotten in Teagasc. If the witnesses can do it for cost and Teagasc is getting extortionate amounts of money, then there are questions to be answered as to where that money is actually being spent. I do not think the maths are going to add up on that one. They are definitely questions that need to be asked.