Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Senator Gavan and I are splitting hairs somewhat. His interpretation of negotiation and mine are somewhat different. He does not think what he says involves negotiation; I think it does. I have made my view on that clear enough. We can keep talking about it but I will not get into that level of detail here tonight.

As for the draft regulations, I have committed to bringing to the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, the Senators' request to see the draft regulations and that he would furnish them. Senator Boyhan talked about trust. To my mind, when Senators have talked about that trust it has been largely about the trust of the farmers, and I accept that. If enough Members of this House are raising these points, that trust is not what it should be. My understanding, however, is that the farmers have been involved in this process from the start. The fact that they have been supplied with the draft regulations is an indication of that. I was given a commitment that they would continue to be part of that process all the way through. Having the draft of the submissions would lead me to believe that that will continue to be the case into the future.