Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have dealt with the Minister and I genuinely believe he is a sincere man. He has helped me but I am very disappointed with his response. If he knew what we are trying to explain to him, he would try to do something urgently.

My brother has a small family farm. At best, it will be at least three weeks before there is any grass and that would be in ideal weather conditions. The weather forecast for the next week is very poor and there will be no growth anywhere in the country. The south will always be a bit ahead of us in terms of growth, no matter how bad things are. If the Minister wants to come to the area, we will show him how difficult this is. While I do not have a case like that to which Deputy Scanlon referred, I assure the Minister that he is absolutely sincere in what he is saying. The farm organisations have made the case about this to us and they are very concerned.

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