Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State should know then that this system will not work. The EID system the Department proposes to introduce will collapse both systems and we will be left with no sheep tagging system.

I appeal to the Minister at this late hour to retreat from the decision he made on REPS 4. It is an outstandingly successful scheme. It delivers valuable results in terms of environmental rural management and income to farmers. The Minister's replacement scheme has been described elsewhere as a Mickey Mouse system, a description with which I concur. The existing system works. As the saying goes, "If it ain't broke don't fix it". I appeal to the Minister not to proceed with a new rural development plan. I advise him, with all the conviction I can muster, that this is the single biggest fatal decision the Department has made in respect of the agri-industry during his tenure.

We need somebody at the Cabinet table who is an advocate, not an apologist, for the industry. The decision on REPS will be the Minister's lasting legacy in the Department. I appeal to him not to proceed with that decision.

I want to deal briefly with the flood crisis. There are three issues that need immediate hands-on management by the Department and other State agencies, particularly Teagasc. There are the issues of the fodder crisis, animal welfare and housing for animals that are in flooded houses on flooded lands, and slurry management. We have farming by calendar, which makes it illegal for farmers, even if it were possible in the current climate, to empty their slurry tanks. We need an understanding approach to that issue. We need immediate identification of the farmers most at risk and targeted interventions at those farm gates. The €2 million fund that will be provided will be entirely inadequate. I wish the Minister had not even referred to it.

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