Mr. Tom Short:

As chairman of the IFA's renewables project team, it is very heartening to hear the good debate here. Farmers will not be found wanting in terms of willingness to engage and to renew some of the crops that we have, but as my colleague has just said, we have to be very careful. We put our toe in the water eight or ten years ago and farmers got particularly badly burnt. That cannot be repeated.

Deputy Stanley made a point about the renewal of the sugar industry. We had a very successful sugar beet industry and it was talked down. Our concern is that if farmers have to put their hands in their pockets to the tune of approximately €220 million, they will be able to get a long-term return on it. Sugar is not what it used to be given that it is often viewed now as the new tobacco. We must be very careful what type of industry we get. There would not be too many farmers with in excess of €100,000 in capital to invest.