Mary Upton (Dublin South Central, Labour)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. When one examines the total numbers of farmers outlined in Rural Ireland 2025: Foresight Perspectives and in Report of the Agri Vision 2015 Committee, one will accept that they are not a million miles apart. The latter report states there will be 12,500 viable dairy farmers and the former report states there will be 10,000 such farmers. It is not a huge gap.

Some 1,500 non-viable part-time dairy farmers and 1,500 transitional dairy farms are identified in the report of the agri-vision 2015 committee. Both those sets of figures are negative in the sense of maintaining a rural farming economy rather than just an entire rural environment, which is what we should be considering. Three key enabling measures are set out in Rural Ireland 2025: Foresight Perspectives, and I would like to know the discussions the Minister of State plans to have with the other stakeholders in rural Ireland to ensure farming remains viable.

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