Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

Would the Minister agree it is quite ironic that the destruction of the beet industry has ultimately resulted in a site that is either in NAMA or part of the reason the taxpayer must recapitalise the various banks, and that all we have left in Carlow today is a high chimney stack on a rather ugly-looking site? The best area in the country for growing beet was abandoned. Would the Minister agree that the alarm bell should have gone off at that stage with his relevant predecessors and some action should have been taken to ensure that the industry was preserved? Will this also be a lesson for Government in the future in that there must be a relationship between it and important industries?

Can the Minister give any hope to farmers in the Wexford, Carlow, Wicklow, Kilkenny and Kildare areas that they might be going back to dealing in a crop that was successful for a few generations?

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