John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He has allayed some of my fears in putting down the question because I am seriously concerned about a further stock level reduction.

How can the responsibility for dealing with the emissions issue be reconciled with the fact that there is an increasing demand for food throughout the world as there are up to 1 billion people who are hungry? We are making a substantial contribution in that regard in that we have a substantial live cattle export trade and the agri-food sector which, as the Minister of State stated correctly, is hugely important. I realise we must strike a balance but I am inclined to come down in favour of positively discriminating in favour of the food sector and of continuing our stocking levels. Even the single farm payment, when we take away headage, has contributed to a decline in stocks. We should be working strongly towards ensuring that we can get the balance right and that we can support and, if possible, increase stock levels.

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