The Government continues to work closely with farm organisations and our colleagues in Brussels to support the Irish farmer but whether we like it or not world markets are forcing major changes in the agriculture sector. While this does not mean the end of farming in rural Ireland, it does mean the rural economy must diversify. In the past rural economies were models of entrepreneurship, diversification and self-sufficiency. The range of skills and professions in rural Ireland at one time was breathtaking. There were farmers, thatchers, tailors, labourers, blacksmiths, weavers, cobblers, doctors, teachers and priests. It would be wrong to think of the rural economy of the past as purely agricultural. As world markets and societies have changed, the economy has changed and many of the old skills are obsolete and have died out. We cannot preserve the past and have to build a future.