Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleagues for their support for the motion. I thank all the Deputies who contributed. In particular, I thank the Labour Party and Sinn Féin for their support for the motion. I am particularly disappointed at the level of Government backbench interest in the motion. Apart from coming in delivering prepared scripts and disappearing, there does not appear to be any grasp of the magnitude of the issue with which we are dealing.

I will come to the issue of the numbers game. Whether it is 3,000, 5,000, 9,000 or 12,000 is not the material point. The issue is quite simple. What is abundantly obvious is, as Deputy McHugh stated, that this is a financial issue. This side of the House is saying that on balance this is, as Deputy Tom Sheahan stated, a "no-brainer" financially. If one takes the Minister's supposition that it could be as few as 3,000 farmers——

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