Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail)

Yesterday, Tesco management were picketed by angry producers, in this case, potato producers. We will probably be seeing more such actions. I have the greatest sympathy for our producers but it is the case that we are in a free, open market. I refer to Senator Feargal Quinn's excellent book, Crowning the Customer, in which he makes it clear the consumer is king and consumers will choose and look for the cheapest and best value they can get. I am not preaching in favour of multinationals - anything but - and it is regrettable that any amount of foreign produce would be appearing regularly on the Tesco shelves but Tesco makes the point that it is the single biggest market for Irish produce so we must be fair in our comments. We will probably see more of this pattern.

I refer to the price of organic chickens, for example. These chickens tend to be larger and are therefore more expensive. The ordinary housewife whose husband has been made redundant will be watching the pennies carefully. She can buy a regular chicken for €3 or €4 and in the case of a butcher in my town she will get the chicken free if she buys the rest of her meat there. It would be very difficult for the organic chicken producer to compete in this case. It is all the more important that the Minister of State would continue with the proactive tranche of attractive grants he has made available for people in the organic sector. These grants are better than the grants available under REPS and the two are not mutually exclusive. The Minister of State is ploughing ahead with his programme in a difficult time and I believe he will succeed.

An important aspect of people's decision to go organic is the belief that such products are good for their health. Some cynics have argued there is no difference and some of them are working in Teagasc or in the general agricultural sector. It is very important that this fact is established. I ask the Minister of State if it is possible to be even more proactive on this issue. I am aware that surveys have been undertaken and I read recently about one done in Newcastle University the results of which were quite favourable for the organic sector-----