Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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The ICBF is funded by the Department and farmers. Are resources an issue in the current economic climate for the coming five years when we are trying to achieve the Food Harvest 2020 targets? What about the work of the ICBF in that regard?

I am delighted to see co-operation. When a company such as the ICBF carries out the work, the efficiencies and economies of scale cannot be compared with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is an effective and efficient service, dealing with 80,000 herds with only 70 employees. That says a lot about it. Well done.

With regard to the work of Teagasc, which is critical to the future of the agricultural sector, the courses throughout the country show agriculture is the new area to be in. A few years ago, it was the construction sector and now it is the agriculture and agrifood industries. The ICT area is very important for the transformation to the new range of technology. If young farmers are to be attracted to the industry, the learning they must undertake is critical. Although many Teagasc courses are full, is there potential to develop additional courses and to examine refresher courses for existing farmers and those who may not want to go back to college full-time but who may want to improve their ICT and e-mail skills in order that they can deal with the Department using the Internet rather than snail mail? Mr. Coughlan mentioned that most communication with farmers is by letter, which is inefficient and costly. If there is a way to become more efficient, it is through e-mail. If one talks to a farmer of a certain age, however, the last thing he wants to talk about is a computer course or an ICT course. This should be examined.

The suckler cow welfare scheme, which Mr. Coughlan mentioned, was launched in 2008. What is its importance and what are the views and thoughts of the witnesses in terms of securing moneys under that scheme and ring-fencing the budget? What is its importance in hitting the targets under Food Harvest 2020?