Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

The Deputy asked me about two issues. His first question concerned the statement by the Minister for Agriculture and Food that 1% of agricultural land is being made available for the market. That is a matter for the market. I cannot force people who own agricultural land to sell it. If they wish to use it for agricultural purposes, that is a matter for them. If I were to bring proposals to the House for the compulsory acquisition of agricultural land, we would see what the difficulty would be, apart from the fact that it would be unconstitutional.

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