Mr. James Geoghegan:

On my own situation, I was told last year that the company which supplied me, which is Scanpole, would have a product up and running by now, and now it does not. As of April this year, I will not have stakes to sell in my business. I have tried a few other suppliers and the volume is not there on the European market. At the minute, we literally do not know what to do. I have had phone calls from another importer last week asking me had I spare stakes to give him and where was I going to get stakes. I asked where was he trying and he said he was googling "stakes in Europe" and could not find any to buy. He is another big importer in Kilkenny.

As it stands, we do not know what we will do. We supply a lot of stakes. My phone is hopping all day every day now. Actually, a merchant in Waterford rang me today looking for stakes. He asked would I give him two bales of stakes for his own farm. He said that his phone is hot with lads calling. He said that he is out of stakes but he has a job on his own farm and needs two or three bales, and would I fix him up. I said I will. I am dealing with the man for years. I will give him stakes, but it is loaves and fishes at this stage. It is very serious.