Public expenditure by the Department in support of the agri-food sector amounted to €2.7 billion in 2001, of which over 56% comes from the European Union. A record €1,382 million of this was in the form of direct payments to farmers, in the form of cheques in the post, which accounted for 53% of aggregate farm income. Expenditure also includes export refunds. Having produced the products there are export refunds to help exports to third countries. Intervention is available into which an amount of dairy products were put this year because of the difficulties in world dairying. There are also internal aids to support sectoral market prices at critical times. This very high level of public expenditure underlines the continuing commitment of the Government to the agri-food sector.