Mr. Tom Canning:

It is a good question. We are very lucky in Ireland. Of the 125,000 farmers who applied for BISS this year, 105,000 engaged with the advisory services, which is the highest level of engagement of any advisory service throughout Europe. However, most of the advisory services throughout Europe are provided through private consultancy services such as ours or commercial businesses, where often there is a conflict of interest. We have spoken to Inge Van Oost in DG VI on a number of occasions and she is extremely positive about the support here for the knowledge hub we are talking about and about the involvement of the private advisory services in the development of Irish agriculture. That message, however, has appeared to fall on deaf ears until now. This is not the first time we have been lobbying in relation to this or that we have spoken to this committee. One of the recommendations that was made by the committee's predecessor, its fourth recommendation, is that the resources should be made available not only to the State but also to private advisory services here to deliver a consistent clear message in terms of nitrates and water quality improvement.