Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom aontú leis an méid a bhí le rá ag an Seanadóir Mooney maidir leis na ciorraithe atá ann do tuismitheoirí aonair. I support what Senator Paschal Mooney said about the cuts for lone parents. I listened with interest to Government Senators discuss issues to do with child care, housing, etc. I hope the concerns they are expressing will also be expressed at budget time when we will see further cuts of up to €2 billion. These are the areas that have been hammered in budget after budget. The position in which lone parents, in particular, find themselves, especially young mothers, is distressing. My office in Galway is inundated with people who are very concerned about how they will cope because of the cuts made to rent supplement.

I thank all those Senators who were able to attend the presentation last night on the direct provision system. It was a very good presentation and I extend an invite to anybody who wants to become involved in the cross-party Oireachtas group we have set up; he or she will be most welcome. The Leader might consider having a debate on the direct provision system, for which we have called previously.

The main issue I want to address is the crisis facing farmers. Is the Leader concerned that on two days this week we saw huge protests on different issues by members of the farming community? There will be another protest today about the GLAS programme. Small farmers, in particular, are protesting. They were very unhappy with the Ministers, Deputies Simon Coveney and Jimmy Deenihan, last night.

Very little wriggle room is being given in regard to how the collective agreement situation is being handled, how the GLAS programme will proceed and the impact this will have, particularly on small farmers in the west of Ireland. Farmers are also concerned about the legacy environmental issues from previous Administrations, which have affected the way farming has progressed, and about some of the environmental impacts of measures they were asked to take previously which are now being rowed back on, leaving them high and dry and without funding to continue the work that was started.

With this and with yesterday's conference on our ocean's wealth in mind, perhaps we could have a series of debates on agriculture, fishing and natural resource issues. We could focus on fisheries and aquaculture in one session, on the changes to the terms of the oil and gas regulation in another, on inland fisheries and on agricultural issues. Will the Leader ask the Minister to come to the House to discuss the issues affecting farmers within the next week or two?