William Aird (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I welcome John, David, Alice, Teresa and Claire. I do not have a question for the IFA from the point of view of what it does because it does great work and if it was not for the IFA we would be in a lot poorer place than we are in at the moment. The IFA has monthly meetings and engages with farmers to try to encourage them to go in and we did the same in Macra. I started off in Macra and twice per year we went out with lists and knocked on doors. People did not have to be farmers. We were always trying to recruit people. Things like that were very positive.

There are different issues that affect farmers out there and it will always be either the price or the weather, what is going well or what is going badly. The first thing I would always do during an engagement, whether it be with John or Mary, is to say to them the glass is half full. It is very difficult to do but we have to look at what happened and the history. Going back years when I was a little fella going to mass with my father, the marts were full. There was none of the hysteria of cattle tracing and everything. TB is worse today than it was then. With all the rules and regulations that came in, never mind statistics, I always ask the Department how many people exit when it brings in a new rule. Look at the statistics and there lies the problem. A cohort of farmers are robust and when the Department comes in, they do not give two hoots about it. If the Department does something, the farmers will stand up to the Department and take it on. However, many farmers roll over because they are quiet, honourable and decent people. I am telling you; there lies the problem. I have been a councillor since I was 18 years of age and of every farmer I have spoken to, when you drill down it always goes back to being terrified of the Department. A farmer gets a letter with the harp on it and the inspector goes into his or her yard with a green coat, spotless with the harp on it. It terrifies a lot of farmers. I want to say this because I believe in my heart that if we do not protect the vulnerable people out there, we will lose them. We have to surround them. I have done so, as have the witnesses, the IFA and Macra.

I had an inspection approximately ten years ago. I would be robust enough. We finished up in the milking parlour. There was the inspector, myself and my dog. The inspector turned to me with his chart and told me I had a problem because the dog was not meant to be in the milking parlour. I told him he was wrong because it was a bitch. I told him the dog's name was Floss. I said to him, "You tell Floss not to be in the parlour." The inspector closed the chart and walked out through the door. Other people would have rolled over for that inspector.