Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

I will give the Minister another statistic to consider as she has doled out many of them in the past few minutes. Since her Government took office in 1997, 70 farmers a week have left agriculture. In the context of the single farm payment post-decoupling and the proposals on the nitrates directive, farmers with less than 20 livestock units will be in severe difficulty, as will the large commercial farmers. In respect of the smaller producer, however, traditionally many small producers in some parts of the country would have used ring feeders for wintering out cattle. That can no longer happen. Teagasc must focus on alternative methods, whether in respect of storage, wintering of cattle and alternative products such as organic products.

In that respect, will the Minister ask Teagasc and the other Ministers, when she meets them, to reconsider the closure of the farm in Ballinamore, County Leitrim? It has a major benefit in terms of the type of marginal land, which could be used as a test farm to try out new enterprises that could provide alternatives for many of those part-time and small farmers in the western region, whether in respect of slurry storage, new wintering out procedures or alternative products, be they free range or organic.

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