Feargal Quinn (Independent)

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I am happy to speak on this matter, although I will find myself speaking more on food than agriculture. I had the honour of being part of the expert group 10 years ago which was asked to decide on the future of the food business in Ireland. I found myself arguing a particular case – which I did not win – which was that the Department of Food should be in the hands of any Minister other than the Minister for Agriculture. I felt it should have been within the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment or anywhere else because there is a strong case to be made for the consumers as well as the farmers.