The Minister lumped those three questions together. I would like to ask him a supplementary in connection with Question No. 33. Would he agree that the amount of input into the meat industry by the IDA and so on should warrant more serious consideration by the Government regarding the future of those plants as they are at present? We are suffering severely here, not only from the point of view of unemployment but also in food processing where so many cattle go out on the hoof and so few are going as carcases and slaughtered meat.

The Deputy refers to the number of cattle going out on the hoof. I refer him to my original reply which stated that the number of slaughterings is up by 8 per cent this year over the corresponding period last year. In 1982 73 per cent of cattle were slaughtered in this country as against 68 per cent in 1981vis-à-vis those exported.

Would the Minister agree that the reason for that is lack of feed over the last number of months and many people have had to dispose of stock which normally would have had three or four months grass feeding after the silo?

I have no evidence that the trend in 1983 has been more significant than in previous years.