Ms Marie Donnelly:

I would be very upset if the Deputy thought I was saying that small farmers are the problem. That was not the intention and it is certainly not the message I would like to portray. What I am saying is we need to ensure an income stream for small farmers who currently are not making money out of beef. That is the message we have. We need to look at the alternatives available to farmers in that context.

On the forestry, when I say the policy is not working, the policy is holistic and if the policy does not allow licences to be issued, we need to revisit it. The implication was not that private people were not doing it. The issue is that if our administrative structures are not able to deliver the volume we need, we have to revisit our administrative structures, including how we issue licences, in what form and how long it takes. Perhaps I was not sufficiently clear on that one. That is the message. It is not a criticism of Coillte or private landowners. Our system is wrong and, as a result, we need to revisit it.