Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A great deal has been said in the past two days and it has proved a useful debate. I certainly welcome the offer from the Minister of State, Deputy Shane McEntee, for a monthly debate on agriculture. I remind him, however, that it is the Government which orders the business of the House. There are many important decisions to be made in the coming weeks and months. The first point to consider is that on the last occasion, we negotiated a provision of €1.6 billion per year under CAP. In terms of the current negotiations, we are already on a downer because even if we retain that level, it will be much less than before in real terms. Nevertheless, my colleagues and I will back the Minister and the Taoiseach the whole way if they come home with €1.6 billion. They must not come back with less.

Another issue that struck me last night is that while the Government mentions Food Harvest 2020 now and again, it has never had the grace to recognise the work done by the previous Administration in this regard. The Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, claimed great credit for that initiative. Unlike his colleagues in government, however, he did at least mention that the document, which is the blueprint for progress, was authored by the last Government. The Minister also placed great emphasis on opening up the Chinese market, but failed to mention our efforts in this regard.

The previous Government worked on that issue for years and was criticised for sending trade delegations to China.

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