Tim Lombard (Fine Gael)
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Does Mr. Delany not think we need to do more? For example, we have a huge discussion group on many different farming topics from agriculture to tillage to beef. The discussion groups meet monthly. Should the Department not intervene here and say it needs to have an engagement with all these people who meet once per month on a farm? All of a sudden the Department would meet a cohort of farmers on an actual farm. Tens of thousands of farmers attend Teagasc events at Moorepark. Yes, they are probably dairy farmers but on the other side there are probably people who could have an interest in an investment that could be in forestry. Do we need to change our approach and look at a different way of engaging with the 130,000 farmers out there? Foresters speaking to foresters is one thing but do we need to look at the other farmers out there, probably 120,000 of them?