Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

As the Minister of State knows, tractors are required for such work and use a lot of diesel fuel. However, the agriculture sector will not be able to sustain a further fuel price increase. I appeal to the Minister of State to ensure there will be a rebate to ease the burden of a new carbon tax. We need to keep farmers working at this difficult time. Not surprisingly, there has been profound doom and gloom, given the major difficulties experienced across all sectors. Input costs arising from the introduction of a carbon tax will have to be dealt with. We must ensure it is not a financial penalty.

The Minister of State referred to the continuing rise of the organic sector, which we welcome. I appreciate and applaud his efforts in this regard. However, he would be the first to recognise that no matter how successful it is and notwithstanding the scale to which it can grow, it will still be but a small part of the overall jigsaw of Irish agriculture. The organic sector is a success story, which I welcome, but the vision of the Minister of State and his Department must stretch well beyond the sector into mainline sectors also. Significant work is required in that regard.

Large numbers of farmers are affected by the flooding crisis. Some of the pictures on our television screens and in the newspapers are heart-rending. The level of assistance being suggested by the Government will have to be increased substantially. Perhaps there will be a budgetary announcement this afternoon. Perhaps the Independent Member, Deputy Noel Grealish, has worked his magic wand. Clearly, we need significant and direct assistance for those affected by flooding.

The Minister of State mentioned the REPS which has been an outstanding win-win scheme and success story concerning departmental policy and Irish agriculture in the past decade. However, there is serious concern that it appears set to be radically reformed and reduced. I am not fully aware of the Minister of State's thinking on what form a new scheme will take, but our aim must be to ensure the maximum number of participants can enter and qualify for the scheme, thus receiving support and assistance. The McCarthy report was particularly critical of the REPS and suggested its almost complete shutdown. However, if one looks at what has been done on farms via the scheme, it includes the physical transformation of the landscape, the protection of habitats and improvement of soil fertility. It has been a very successful agricultural story. Under the scheme, the money available is put into circulation almost immediately. A farmer who receives a REPS cheque is obliged to spend almost all of the money on carrying out further improvements. I appreciate the scale of the economic crisis and that we must face reality, not live in cloud-cuckoo land. However, we will tamper with the scheme at our peril. Its substitute needs to be substantial, not just a scheme in name only. It must involve money and have a real purpose. I ask the Minister of State, representing the Green Party wing of the Government, to try to impose his thinking on a new scheme in order that it will make a difference, as I think he would agree, the current scheme has done.