Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister and wish him extremely well during the Presidency of the EU. At this stage, he is a Minister with vast experience. Apart from a two year interval, he has been at Agriculture House for the past 17 years. While there have been little ups and downs with farm organisations now and again, I am glad there is harmony once again. I compliment the Minister on the establishment of the group to examine where agriculture will be in ten years. I was sitting opposite Mr. Alan Dukes, the excellent chairman the Minister has appointed, at dinner recently. It is to be encouraged that where the best person comes from a background in an Opposition party a Government should not hesitate to appoint him or her. I congratulate the Minister for doing so in this case. Mr. Dukes was telling me that he was training himself to say "this Government" rather than "this bloody awful Government".

The amalgamation of Bord Bia and An Bord Glas is probably the right thing to do. I have a slight sentimental attachment to An Bord Glas. I remember well being involved in the research office of Fianna Fáil circa 1986 when we produced a well received policy document on the development of horticulture, which led to the establishment of An Bord Glas. Certainly at that time there was a need to place a particular focus on the development of horticulture. Despite all the development which has occurred, there is still a great deal of unexploited potential which I will discuss later. I did not realise until I listened to the Minister's speech that horticulture was the third most important sector in agriculture. That is an astonishing achievement as it was not the case back in 1986 and 1987.

I remember when I was a diplomat in Germany that there were many different offices. There was a separate office for CBF and another for dairy products. There is a case for rationalising and bringing bodies together. By the way, I must declare a small interest in that a relative of mine by marriage works for Bord Bia in an office abroad. In any case, the board is already responsible for the marketing of produce. Senator Quinn is correct to say that not all mergers lead to added value. One can think in the political field of the amalgamation of Labour and Democratic Left.