Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

That certainly is a good idea and I will consider it because I am willing to explore any possibility of getting funding into rural areas. As for Deputy Wall's remarks, there is another scheme that runs in parallel to this that my Department inherited from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. I refer to the farm electrification grant scheme, or FEG scheme, as it is often known, which was dying slowly. Although there had been major interest in that scheme, when the waste management grants became available, many people then applied under the agricultural disadvantaged areas scheme for connections to sheds and to all the equipment they had for a slurry tanks and so on. The question of electricity supply for large commercial farming operations and for small businesses is vital. While we hear much about gaining access to broadband, in many parts of rural Ireland the ESB is the first requisite and broadband is the second and both are equal in the world in which we live. I am open to considering simple ideas to deal with the bread and butter issues. While one never will get on the front pages of the newspapers for such a debate, it changes people's lives and I thank Members for their support for this process and I certainly will keep their remarks in mind.

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