Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Danny Healy-Rae indicated that there was €106 million of an underspend in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2016. According to a reply I received to a parliamentary question, there was a €75 million underspend in that Department last year.

Like me, the Taoiseach will attend the IFA's annual general meeting, AGM, this evening. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine attended meeting of the fodder action group yesterday but the farming organisation representatives left that empty-handed and with no sense of how the Government intends to respond. Will the Taoiseach and the Minister once again leave farming representatives empty-handed tonight and in the coming weeks or will the Taoiseach, once and for all, show some leadership in this regard and deliver a meal voucher scheme, which is required in those areas of the country experiencing an acute fodder shortage?

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