James Bannon (Fine Gael)

We have seen the escalation of costs associated with farming. Those are issues that must be addressed. Farmers feel that there is a weak Minister for Agriculture and Food who sold us out to the EU. We must have an urgent debate on the decline in farming incomes, an issue of concern to us all.

I also support the call for a debate on the new draft register of electors. I am puzzled by and alarmed at the number of people who have been left off it — almost 20% of the population is excluded. I know people who have been living in the same place for 40 years but who work elsewhere. They can be 12 hours away from home and cannot be facilitated by local authority representatives calling to collect forms. They are automatically eliminated from the register and I am therefore calling for a debate on the issue before it is too late.