Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael)

It has become the norm for Government Members to call on people to play their part in accepting budgetary measures. I found some of the remarks of the Minister of State extraordinary. I listened to Senator Boyle and I have never seen a party become so assimilated into Fianna Fáil like the Green Party has. It is appalling and they should be ashamed of themselves, especially regarding agriculture.

Let us look at the picture and be honest about it. Irish agriculture has faced great challenges in the past three decades, and every single farmer, and the farming unions, have lined up and negotiated, bargained, adapted and evolved. The area needs the Government to support and enhance its role and not decimate it. The 2009 budget, in the context of agriculture, has killed off rural Ireland and, more importantly, has told young farmers to stay off the land. That is the message. If the Minister of State talks to members of Macra na Feirme and young farmers — my own relations and brother-law — they will tell him this Government more than any other Government has made it difficult to farm.

If those on the Government side want a debate on Fine Gael in Government, we can line up former Deputies Mark Clinton and Ivan Yates, and Deputies Mary Coughlan and Brendan Smith, and I will tell them how the voting will go. We do not need the "X-Factor" for it because Fine Gael's agriculture policy has always been pro-farmer. We have been tough but fair with farmers, unlike the Government. I will defend our Ministers every step of the way because they have always been proactive on farming.

Has the Government a plan for agriculture? Where is its vision or strategic plan? They do not exist. This is a series of cutbacks which took place before the budget and that have been cobbled together. We are sending the wrong message to those in agriculture. What were the early retirement and installation aid schemes about? They were about telling farmers there could be change and progression, but now we have none. As Senator Coffey said, it is an indigenous industry which is important to Ireland, but under Fianna Fáil over the past 11 years there has been a flight from the land. There has been movement, and increasing numbers of people have had to take a second income to sustain their employment on the land.

Is the Minister of State serious about agriculture? If he is, why has the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Brendan Smith, been abandoned at the Cabinet table and left on his own? If he is telling me that the other members of Cabinet support these cuts in agriculture, then they have no interest in farming and rural Ireland.

Yesterday we had a debate in this House on the rural development programme. Of that money, 55% came from Europe. Let us be realistic about farming in this country and have a debate about what is best for rural life. This budget does nothing but quench the candle of Irish agriculture.