John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 242: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of persons in the western region that have given up farming in the years between 2000 and 2005 to date; the number of persons in the western region that have entered farming in the years between 2000 and 2005 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15913/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Central Statistics Office publishes data on the number of persons in farming, it does not collect data on entrants to or exits from farming. Data is only available in respect of the period 2000 and 2003. According to the 2000 census of agriculture there were 32,800 farmers in the western region, Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, and in the 2003 farm structures survey there were 32,000 farmers, a fall of 2.4% over the period. The equivalent figures for the Border region, Cavan, Donegal, Louth, Monaghan, Sligo and Leitrim, are 28,900 for the year 2000 and 27,100 for 2003, a fall of 6.2% over the same period. This compares with a 4.2% decline in the number of farmers in the State over the same period.