Mr. John Hughes:

Yes, labour is an issue. It has been an issue for the last decade, probably, but it has come to the point where the pot has almost boiled dry and there is no water left in it. What are we going to do? I do not know. Are we to rely on minors, and I use the word advisedly, those under 18 years, to drive very expensive tractors at what are sometimes dangerous speeds on the road? They have not got proper training. Training for tractor drivers is an issue for everybody. They think they are God almighty and they are Michael Schumacher on the road. Maybe nature takes over but that is the way it is. We try to deal with the issue we have. When people are stuck they have to find somebody to drive the tractor. Otherwise they have to tell their clients that they have no one to drive the tractor and they will cut the silage whenever they can get to it. At the moment, there are many farmers ringing up contractors with their TAMS-granted tankers sitting in the yard and they have no one to drive their own tractor in their own yard to pump their own slurry and bring it out in the fields. They are contacting the contractors to do it. Those contractors already have existing clients in the books who they booked in weeks ago and they are over-loaded with work. They just cannot get it done. It goes back to a point raised earlier. Labour is an issue and will continue to be an issue.