Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

That is an indication of how the Government treats the people in rural Ireland.

I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on agriculture. Normally when one calls for such a debate, one asks for the Minister for Agriculture and Food to come to the House. However, the Minister seems to have lost control of what is happening in agriculture and we possibly need a debate involving the Minister for Finance and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The Government made great play of getting an additional 10% to cover the cost of construction of projects under the nitrates directive programme but we now discover the Department is operating on costs based on figures for 2004. Costs have escalated significantly since then and any increase has been well and truly eroded.

The Government has made 3,700 beet growers redundant. If we want to keep farming alive we need a revised farm retirement pension that will make land available to young people. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate on these issues.