Fergal Browne (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator Moylan for arranging extra speaking time. In Carlow the average farming income has fallen to approximately 52% of the average industrial wage from 70% in the past few years. I do not wish to sound negative about agriculture but it is important to examine the factual information. Many young people are not going into agriculture and the number of farms is decreasing while the size of farms is increasing. The recent census figures show that the number of farms has decreased by almost 2,000 in the space of two years. The number working on farms decreased by 5,500. The figures may be even worse for the past two years. Will we end up like the Americans with huge commercial farms? It seems we may be heading in that direction as pig farming becomes more specialised although there are only a few hundred pig farmers in the country compared to the past. It is now common for a tillage farmer to have 500 or 600 acres. In the case of dairy farming with an average milk quota of 40,000 gallons, people are not attracted to even double that quota. Many young people would not go near a quota of 80,000 gallons because it is not regarded as viable in the long term. They are walking away from farming and that is regrettable.

I was bemused listening to the arguments made by Fianna Fáil Members about the impact of the Greens in a future Fine Gael-led Government. I remind them that whatever concerns they have, it would not be any worse than the current Government.