Mr. Joe Healy:

I thank the Chairman and the speakers. It is good that all of the speakers agree with us on the immediate need for a crisis fund. There is absolute acknowledgement of the depth of the crisis for the people affected. To be fair to the speakers, the figure of 400 they are talking about is also the figure we are talking about, given the information we have collected. Moreover, there is acknowledgement of the knock-on effect on the other sectors.

Perhaps Deputy Penrose's fellow countryman, Fintan Conway, did not mention Westmeath because he spends so much time working in every county and in the farm centre that he spends less time in Westmeath than anywhere else.