Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, to the House. My Adjournment matter involves an issue close to his heart as the Minister of State's constituency has many agricultural issues.

The specific issue concerns farmers' access to information. Mechanisms are in place which work, and many advisory bodies such as Teagasc do a phenomenal job in getting information to farmers and clarifying matters in the bureaucratic regime in which we live. Diligent people work at departmental level and perform in the face of many constraints because they must deal with a plethora of issues. As more legislation is introduced, more issues will raise their heads.

However, we have entered a new period in agriculture with an increasing amount of legislation coming from European directives and at national level, and it is becoming more of a headache for farmers. More information and clarification is required on a daily basis, not on a weekly or monthly basis. Increased legislation and bureaucracy creates a need for more information. We must also take into consideration that farming practices have changed. In the past, a farm set-up could have two heads of household. A husband could be in the farmyard while his wife was at home. Farming practice has changed, and many farmers involved in part-time farming are therefore not as available as much to make phone calls to the Department's offices. They may be at other work, for example.

I am specifically calling for the Department to look at the possibility of introducing lo-call numbers at a regional level, or even a freefone number for farmers, where they can have 24-hour access to information at departmental level. With advanced communications systems and technology, as well as information systems, this is not too much to ask. It is important that the idea of having access to information for farmers is put on the record and advanced at least to a debating stage.

Extra staff are required. The staff currently working at Department level, in the midlands or in the peripheral areas that have Department offices, are overworked. They must deal with many information queries, and in doing this they are not able to facilitate every farmer every time. Farmers can become infuriated and frustrated, perhaps as a result of having to stay on the phone line for an hour or an hour and a half. Time is at a premium for many people, no more so than farmers. If we are to introduce layers of bureaucracy and legislation, making it ever more difficult and turning farming into an administrative business, it is important we facilitate the new measures.

We should facilitate farmers with regard to their time constraints as they may be working on a part-time basis. Such farmers do not have time to be on a phone for an hour or an hour and a half, waiting for a person on the other end to give them a small piece of information. It is imperative that something is done sooner rather than later. Farmers are stellar custodians of the landscape and are still fighting a battle. Future generations of farmers still wish to partake in farming practice. It is incumbent on us to make it easier for this to happen and to facilitate farmers.