Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials who have done an excellent job in recent years. As an official at some European Council meetings at which this issue was raised, I had an opportunity to observe their work at close quarters. One of the positive developments for the future has been the agreement until 2013 on financing for the existing member states, which I hope will offer a degree of confidence.

It is appropriate that we are holding this debate in fine weather. The cattle are out, most of the cows have calved and prices are very strong, frighteningly so for those trying to pick up calves in the market. This is the time of year when confidence, which is sometimes dashed in autumn, flows back into farming as we look forward to good weather.

Senator Callanan referred to the importance of land use. The main problem with agriculture is that it has become one sector of the economy among many, whereas it was once the principal economic sector. Quality of life for farmers is good in some respects and not so good in others. For example, one does not always have ordered hours or sleep filled nights, particularly at this time of year.

Assuring the future is an important issue. Farmers must receive maximum support in terms of timeframes for adopting regulations and so forth, on which the Department has been extremely effective. This does not, however, alter the fact that, comparatively speaking, farming incomes, except those at the highest levels, have not kept up with incomes in the rest of the economy.

I am concerned that farming could be semi-abandoned in some less favoured parts of the country. Last summer, while visiting the west for a week, I noticed there were fewer animals around than three or four years previously. When I mentioned this to a farmer, he told me it was possible that there will be practically none in five or ten years. We need farming to be carried on for all sorts of reasons. If necessary it should continue alongside other occupations because we do not want large areas to go derelict.

Senator John Paul Phelan raised the nitrates directive, an issue on which I have met local farmers and received representations. A pragmatic approach involving compromise on both sides is required. I was interested in Senator Callanan's remarks on anaerobic digestion. He is correct that farming does not go by the calendar. One can have totally different conditions from one November to the next. Cattle are taken in and brought out on different dates each year because conditions differ. In a bad year, for example, one must bring them in at the end of November, whereas in a good one, they could be kept out until shortly before Christmas. According to my brother, they can often be brought out on 1 February in the favoured areas of County Cork.

This is a political debate. The question of constructing an alternative Government was addressed at various party conferences in recent weeks. Political alternatives are important in a democracy. I recall that at the previous general election people were not greatly concerned about the Labour Party because it was a known quantity. Among farmers, however, mention of the Green Party in a putative coalition was off-putting, certainly in Tipperary.