Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I will follow up on what Ms Roche said about the IFA. If she does not have time here, she might furnish the committee with the information. She raised the issue of health checks and funding going up from €210,000 to €250,000, she might correct me if I am wrong, for this year. Ms Roche stated there were 23 red flags. She might send those on to us, as those are very important. What quantitative research has been done? We need value for money too. I am in the business of cutting money but that is a lot of bucks, and we need to be sure they are being used in the right way. We are following the cases Ms Roche identified, which are critically interesting, including the 23 red flags. I would like to get a better handle on them, so she might furnish them to the committee.

Finally, last year the IFA held an event in the Fermoy mart, and I went down with a group of people as part of the green ribbon campaign. I ask the IFA and Teagasc to get behind that too. When we handed out hundreds of green ribbons, people looked at them and asked why they would want them. I told them they were for mental health awareness. There was a platform and big promotion outside it. It is an amazing mart. The witnesses will be familiar with the new one. Most of the people we met said they do not have mental health problems. I did not say they had, but there is a lot of denial involved. Eventually they would take the flag and stick it in their pocket. They were not even sure what they were talking about and wondered whether the flag could identify them in a certain way.

There is real potential for the IFA to partner with the existing campaign, not to recreate it. That means IFA members, us, farmers, everybody wearing the green ribbon and identifying with it. It is very strongly promoted in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I ask that the witnesses reach out to the people involved, because that could be a big, bold initiative. It just needs to be expanded.