Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with Senator Black regarding artists, particularly musicians. As Senators Black and Warfield and the Chair will be aware, I have a great association with those people through my time in local radio. At the moment, they are in distress financially and they need assistance. They feel they are being left out of the loop and we must address that.

I want to return to the issue of private coach companies, which a number of Members have spoken about. There are 11,500 people employed in the sector and there are 1,600 private bus companies. There has been significant investment in fleets in recent years. The bus has literally stopped but not at the bus stop. It has stopped, full stop. We need to listen to those people and make a strong case for them because, at this time of year, any road one goes on, one sees these buses travelling left, right and centre. School transport is an issue, as well.

I disagree with my good friend, Senator Boyhan, regarding horticulture. The issue is well addressed in the programme for Government. From the Fianna Fáil perspective, I wrote a document and I compliment our partners in Government who are very much focused on this area. I am a horticulturist. I outlined in that document all of the fruit and vegetable importations and the document clearly states there will be a total review of the horticultural industry, which I welcome. It is long overdue. There are jobs out there we can create in the horticultural business. We are good at selling our dairy products across the world; we have failed miserably in regard to the horticultural industry. I assure Senator Boyhan and others that the issue of horticulture will be addressed by this Government like no other has addressed it and that is progress.