Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I welcome this motion. We must be doing something right. Recently, in a Sunday newspaper, a celebrity economist identified the agrifood business as a key driver of the economy. The same person understood that, as we used to say in Wicklow: "When they're boiled, eat them up to that." I wish to make a few key points. Departments will have to adopt a flexible mentality. At present, the key to driving this is to look on matters differently now than in the past. We must train young people to become involved in farming, making it a career and a life rather than a struggle which it was in the past. At times, it was financially rewarding but it involved high demands. The younger generation of farming families are not prepared to accept what their fathers might have accepted.

We must adopt a system that allows land to get into the hands of young, trained and educated entrepreneurs - young men and women in the farming business. That may require alterations to the tax code. It cannot be the case that a person must own land because it is too expensive, even with reduced prices. When I was a young man, I had the good fortune to spend a year working in New Zealand where land ownership was not seen as a barrier to land operation and management. The Revenue Commissioners and officials in the Department of Finance will have to get their heads around this matter by being flexible.

The motion recognises that both regional and national food labelling needs to be improved. It must be accurate and honest in dealing with issues such as health, country of origin, rearing and slaughter. In that way, people can make an informed choice. We are committed to introducing fair trade legislation. It is acceptable and cool to buy coffee with a fair trade logo from somewhere in the world, but we seem to have a slight difficulty in adopting the same principle here. There are a few who are controlling what is an €11 billion or €12 billion retail industry in this country, depending on what one brings into the equation. That must be tackled.

According to research carried out at University College Cork, this country is made up of 54 local economies. Most of those are centred on provincial towns with a big rural hinterland. It is a known fact that when agriculture is doing well in such areas, so do the economies of such towns and communities.

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