Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

I appreciate that. The complexity of all of this is difficult to grasp in a short space of time. Will the €28 million fund be ringfenced and remain for the sheep sector? That was a promise made. It is a fund that has not been drawn down. It was promised because it is a sector in crisis. It was a fund that was established with so many strings attached that it proved virtually impossible for the sheep sector, highland or lowland, to access it.

Given the Minister has made a specific commitment to the sheep sector and has had discussions with his Northern Ireland counterparts, will he investigate — this is slightly aside from the main thrust of this question — the potential of the wool industry? It is a sector that has been virtually a "discard", if I may import the term from the marine industry. It is an asset that has been virtually discarded in recent years, but may be coming back into vogue. The Minister might look at it, both from an insulation perspective and from a wool and yarn perspective.

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