Tom Kitt (Dublin South, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy is indeed straying into new territory. I am conscious from my involvement in the World Trade Organisation talks, for example, and discussions on the Common Agricultural Policy reforms etc. that a wealth of information is required and must be examined in terms of what happens to these farms. Many of them are changing to alternative usage as a result of the CAP reforms. The Deputy's question obviously relates to the number of farms. I do not have data on the number of dependants except to say that we are talking about family run, not commercial farms. I understand that approximately 200 commercial concerns were excluded from the figures supplied to me on this occasion. There is also the distinction between full-time and part-time agriculture. As I said in my answer, full-time means farming is the sole occupation of a farmer, whether male or female. The part-time figure relates to where a farmer has a major or subsidiary occupation from that source.

Even though I do not come from a farming family, I am fully aware of the dramatic changes in agriculture over the years in places such as my native east Galway, and that numbers have decreased substantially. I have witnessed that taking place over decades. The information I have is substantial, but if there is anything additional which the Deputy requires, he should let me know. Questions have been raised in the House and I can follow up on those.

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