Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is an important message to give at this time and I thank the Minister of State for it. We need to look at the extent to which other countries, including EU countries, are contributing in the same fashion as we are, for example, countries with similar populations and a similar dependency on the agrifood sector. I am not so sure every country is singing from the same hymn sheet as we may see at a later stage but, as the Minister of State rightly said, it is important to continue to meet the two headlines and objectives of equal status at the same time. It can be done and this needs to be illustrated to the farming community now because it has to plan for the future.

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