Dr. Frank O'Mara:

I thank the committee for giving me an opportunity to address it on the important topic of rural viability. I am sure the members of the committee will agree that the agriculture and food industries play an important role. I am sure that will be well reflected in the committee's report. I am sure all members are familiar with Teagasc, which is the State agency responsible for research in agriculture and food. We are responsible for agriculture advisory services and for agricultural education. I am the director of the research part of the organisation. I am joined by my colleague, Dr. David Meredith, who is our senior research officer with responsibility for research on rural development. Such research is central to our mission. Dr. Meredith has extensive experience of undertaking research on rural development and supporting local, regional and national stakeholders on rural development issues. He worked on the report produced by the Commission for the Economic Development of Rural Areas and he was a member of the selection committee for the Leader groups. More recently, he has been involved in the provision of research in support of the development of an action plan for rural areas. As the statement prepared primarily by Dr. Meredith has been circulated, we will not go over it in detail. I ask Dr. Meredith to pick out some of the key points from that statement.