Michael D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to be associated with the comments of the Acting Chairman. It is about 12 years since the Minister of State has been in the Chamber. I extend my heartiest congratulations to him. He is well deserving of the position he holds in government.

I am concerned about tonnages being reaped from the land. I have spoken to people in County Wexford, where the tonnage per acre is down by between 30% to 50%. That must be taken in conjunction with the complete depletion of the existing reserves, which were built up over a number of years. Reserves in sheds, pits and silage bales were all used during the fodder shortage last spring.

I am an optimist. We have to hope for the best but plan for the worst. We could have a bad back end of the year or a poor spring in 2014. We must move now to ensure the potential difficulties, which could be many times worse than what we have experienced, are dealt with. The Minister has done a lot of good work to try to alleviate the difficulties. We need to take immediate steps to try to deal with the problem. Doing something in a month or six weeks' time will be too late. The growing season is now at its peak, later than normal. We need to take steps now.