Ms Niamh Brennan:

I will take the second part of the Deputy's question about what is needed in the very short term to try to put out the fires and sustain the growers we have at present. We need Government support to intervene on the import costs. There is no doubt about that.

More long term, it is evident from the national strategy for horticulture that was launched at Bloom that there is recognition of the farm gate value. The Government wants to increase that by 30%. However, we need to address the issues that are outlined in that strategy document. We need a whole approach. Labour must be sorted out. That is number one. The food regulator is a welcome appointment. We need to get that office up and running, and working. We need more transparency and regular reporting on the market data. We obviously need substrate. We need to continue support for peat substitutes. A whole approach is required if we want to save the horticultural sector. There are no fast wins. We will get a few quick wins in terms of labour that will help to sustain the sector but if we want to get that additional 30%, we will have to address that strategy. We are working on that. The IFA is part of the working group that is driving that strategy. We have a number of ideas but we need the resources to try to drive that on to sustain and grow our numbers.