Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his positive response. I appreciate that, refreshingly, he did not attempt any evasive nonsense and did not say there was not a problem. He has accepted there is a real problem and is on top of and dealing with it. I also pay tribute to my party colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Heydon, for his role in this, as cited by the Minister.

I am glad the Minister is meeting farmers again today. My final word to him is to ask him to please present them with a package. At the end of his contribution, he said he is working on efforts to do that. If he does not intervene with hard cash, there will be devastation. I thank the Minister for his positive response, but I would like to think that in a day or two we will be talking figures.