Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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It is even an embarrassment to talk about it, and then the Department brings out a new scheme. When we look at what farmers have gone through over the past six to eight years, how can I go to farmers and give them confidence? Everything is about confidence, whatever you do in life. Whether you are at cattle, dairy, drystock, sheep or trees, it is about confidence in the market and in what you are doing. How could anyone have confidence at the moment? I hope I am proved wrong but I do not even think farmers will look at the figures from the launch of the new forestry programme. They are sick of what is going on. It will all go back to one big conglomerate, namely, the main forestry system in Ireland, because it will get state aid.