Mr. Jim O'Regan:

The cost of replanting per acre, based on Teagasc figures, would be about €120. Approximately 200 growers are affected in the Dáil constituency of Cork South-West, which is more or less from Senator Lombard's area out to Mizen Head. It is a strong tillage area as the Senator knows, including Kinsale where tillage is concentrated, and consequently a huge number of growers are affected.

I was asked if those growers have a future but I am afraid the answer is "no", unless an aid package is put in place. As the IFA president, Mr. Healy said, costs are almost €400 an acre while income is just over €100. There is no hope for those growers, so I ask everyone in this committee room to consider them. How will they face Christmas? It is a nightmare situation for them. I was also asked whether there was a future, and there is. We have some of the best tillage farmers and land in Europe. There is a future if we are treated fairly and the industry is given a fair run for its money. Deputies O'Keeffe and Michael Collins sent me a note on farms and I spoke to some of their constituents last night. They have the cream of land down in the Whitegate area, but they got wiped out this year by weather damage, through no fault of their own. It is a one in 30-year cycle. Every politician, regardless of party, should put their shoulder to the wheel. Aid can be obtained if there is a will to make the effort.