Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister unfortunately does not seem open to the idea of properly supporting our suckler and beef herd in the way required to ensure that it is sustained. He should know, as I and many others do, that across the country the suckler herd is depleting and people are considering getting out of it. Teagasc indicates that it is between €4 and €4.50 to break even. Beef is being sold for considerably less than that at present and this is not sustainable.

Will the Minister give a commitment to reopen the beef data genomic programme? The Minister asks me what proposal I would make but he should live up to the commitment he and this Government gave on how the rural development programme would be funded and the extent to which it would be funded.

He committed to provide €52 million per annum for the beef data genomics programme, but we are well under that at the moment. We have been well below our targets in this regard in recent years. A similar situation applies across the rest of the rural development programme. Whether they like it or not, I will continue to hold the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Doyle, to account to ensure they spend the money the Government has committed to spend - no more and, in particular, no less. There is capacity for the immediate reopening of this programme and for looking at how the unspent commitment which has been built up so far can be delivered to farmers within the programme period that was promised.

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