Mr. Bryan Hynes:

As Mr. Finan said I moved home three years ago and started dairy farming. We had a beef farm. I am in the process of expanding and developing a dairy herd. Older farmers will tell you that expansion is expensive. As Deputy Deering mentioned we have to make the most of grass. I question whether the current grants are delivering that outcome. The TAMS scheme delivers grants for concrete slatted units. However, young farmers need to invest in the profit drivers that will make them money, such as roadways, grazing infrastructure, water tanks, reseeding, PK and lime requirements and land drainage, for which there are no grants. If we want to make money in the short term, that is what we need to do, then we will be able to afford sheds. We are at the stage, where when the young farmer gets the farm, everybody is asking him if he is building a shed. I am telling farmers not to build as the cost of doing so will cripple him or her. We need to invest in what will make money in the short term. We can and need to be innovative. When young farmers are starting out, they should get help to rent sheds. I worry about the impact of encouraging high investment in concrete from day one.