Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

RTÉ made headlines yesterday when it spoke about the need for more people to get involved with the actual licensing system. The licensing system and the lack of funding going in is a huge issue for RTÉ. It is definitely worth a debate at some level.

One of the key issues I had with RTÉ over the last eight or nine months was the lack of a correspondent to cover agriculture and that entity. Agriculture plays a pivotal role in our society. It is one of the leading drivers. I welcome the announcement at 11 a.m. today that RTÉ has appointed a new agriculture correspondent. It took nine months to get there. That is the real issue. It has been nine months since Mr. Fran McNulty left the role, which was left idle. That was really disappointing. Now, at least we have an agriculture correspondent for RTÉ. We need to build on that, however. It really has to be about agriculture only and not agriculture and consumer affairs.

Agriculture has been one of the biggest drivers of our economy for the last 100 years. It is still the biggest driver of rural economies. It has a really important role to play. When it comes to telling the good news story about this country having the ability to supply enough food for 50 million people, we need to start talking about it directly. RTÉ has come on board at long last and appointed its agriculture correspondent but that is only the start. We need to now start telling the true story of what our agricultural community does on the ground and what its true potential actually is.