Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Some of those schemes, such as ACRES, are welcome and will make some difference. However, they are more focused on the environment as opposed to production. The fact of the matter is that monitoring is not good enough at this point when sheep farmers are telling the Minister that they are in crisis and the sector is in crisis. The clear impact of Brexit is there. If the Minister looks at the trade deals that have been done by England with New Zealand and Australia, he will see they are both big sheep producing countries. They have the potential to undermine our sheep sector. Sheep farmers are worried about that. Will the Minister confirm in his response whether he has asked his Department officials to look at this? Is it the case they have looked at it as regards the Brexit fund and it is not possible?

Can the Minister say categorically that it has been investigated and is not possible, or is it the case that it will be investigated? Will the Minister clarify that?

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