Phil Prendergast (Labour)

I support Senator Fitzgerald's call for additional resources to be allocated to implement the recommendations made in the Ryan and Murphy reports. I hope child benefit will not be affected in today's budget. I have been contacted by many people who are concerned about what they will hear today. Child benefit is particularly important to them as one of their vital weekly resources as they manage their family budgets. They are awaiting what might be ahead with fear and trepidation.

I welcome the announcement that €2 million is to be provided for farmers as part of the fodder aid scheme. There is a chronic crisis in cattle farming. Farmers had to meet the additional cost of moving and rehousing cattle during the extraordinarily wet spring this year. They had to keep cattle housed and fed over the summer. Beef prices are at their lowest level for 20 years. An IFA study has found that farm incomes have decreased by 40% in the last two years. I appreciate that we will have an opportunity to contribute to a debate on agriculture later today, but we need to listen to those who are on their knees and finding it difficult to manage because their grounds are waterlogged.

More than half of the approximately 1,000 people surveyed on their blood pressure by the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences which is based at St. James's Hospital were found to have high levels. In turn, just half of these were found to be on medication for hypertension. There is a need for a national information campaign on the effects of high blood pressure which can include stroke or death, at worst. If people are screened, they will know whether they need to take medication and be treated at an early stage. They need to know what the normal level of blood pressure is and what the standards of care should be.