Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is welcome to the House but he has come in three weeks too late, the horse has bolted. As the saying goes, "Live horse and get grass". This was raised three weeks ago by Senator O'Donovan and we called for the Minister's attendance but he was not available.

The Minister said he knew there would be a crisis but if that is the case, he was not very well prepared. A Fianna Fáil Government provided £12 million in 1998 for a similar crisis. The Minister should check his files and see how it was handled by the Ministers, Joe Walsh and Ned O'Keeffe. These two Cork Ministers for agriculture responded in a positive way to that crisis. We were not funded or supported by the IFA or other organisations to bail us out. We had to do it ourselves out of people's taxes. I welcome the support and assistance from the IFA and other organisations that have provided funding, it is very good of them, but they put the Minister off the line because that saved his coffers.