Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

It contains a great deal of background information which makes the targets to which I refer credible. It also provides business plans in respect of how those targets might be achieved. We are trying to implement Food Harvest 2020, as well as upgrading it on a quarterly basis. We are seeking to upgrade it because markets and prices change. One of the reasons we altered the target relating to beef from 20% to 40% is because we have already achieved a 10% increase in the output value of beef because the price of the latter has increased. As the price of food rises, so too does the value of exports. This means that targets must be revised upwards. If there were a collapse in prices, we would be obliged to revise targets downwards.

Food Harvest 2020 is a living document. The advantage is that everybody buys into what it envisages. It does not matter if it is Glanbia, Greencore, Kerry Group, Dawn Meats or some other company, everyone subscribes to it. When we held a conference on Food Harvest 2020 in recent weeks, every player in the food industry in Ireland was present, with the exception of a small number who could not, for predominantly valid reasons, be there. That conference was a phenomenal success.

Next week I will be launching Food Harvest 2020, one year on. This will allow us to review what we have achieved in the first year and to identify whether we are on target and to indicate the targets that have been upgraded since the original document was put in place. As a result, people will be able to see how Food Harvest 2020 is developing on a month-by-month, year-by-year basis. There has already been movement in respect of approximately 90% of the 217 requirements contained in Food Harvest 2020. It is a living, working document which drives the policy direction of the Department.

If it is acceptable to Senators, I will not comment on the turf debate.

That is the area of responsibility of the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Jimmy Deenihan, rather than me. It is being driven by the European Union and, unfortunately, Ireland is seen as a country with which the Union must take a hard line in terms of turf-cutting. Having said that, the problems in this regard are sometimes exaggerated in that we are talking about a relatively small percentage of bogs in respect of which significant restrictions are being imposed.

The financing of the food sector is a problem, just as every small and medium-sized enterprise in the State is experiencing problems. We have spoken to representatives of several banks about financing for the food sector and farming. There must be a dramatic investment programme, both on farms, which is covered by the capital programmes, and also within food processing. As I said earlier, there has been no investment in dairy processing in terms of volume increase since the mid-1980s when we began operating within the straitjacket of milk quotas. The EU must plan for and finance a dramatic investment programme to deal with the increased volumes of milk that will come its way, perhaps before 2015 and certainly after it. Likewise, the investment programme for poultry and pigs units, because of the increase in standards being imposed by the European Union, requires significant investment. We have provided matching funding for much of that investment, but the problem is that producers cannot access bank funding. However, there is an increasing acknowledgement of these realities among both Irish-owned banks and foreign banks, including RaboDirect, which is one of the largest agricultural banks in the world and is seeking to increase significantly its share of the Irish market. I expect to see funding made available for viable agricultural projects.

As regards small food companies, as in other sectors there is huge frustration with the banking system at the lack of credit and overdraft facilities and the other factors that are a significant impediment to growth and expansion for businesses. I will not solve the banking problem today-----