asked the Minister for Agriculture the number of young farmers who have entered the primary producing area of agriculture in the last five years and who have had the benefit of courses in agricultural colleges.

ACOT, the body responsible for agricultural training, estimates that the number of such farmers is about 3,600.

Would the Minister agree that, with the amount of unemployment obtaining, that is a very small figure, particularly at a time when we are talking about the development of agriculture? Furthermore would he agree that not alone must there be an expansion of education in agriculture at our agricultural colleges but that there should be additional courses run at vocational schools for agricultural students?

It is very difficult to give an opinion as to whether it constitutes a small number. It might look relatively small but it is quite a considerable number, 3,600 per annum. I might say that the figures for 1982/83 were the highest in recent years.

Would the Minister agree that the reason they are higher is the reduced opportunities obtaining in other fields so that people are moving into agriculture, that it is a question of availability rather than of choice?

I would not agree with that. There is a much greater appreciation of the need for advanced education in agriculture.

Could the Minister tell us the number of young farmers who have gone into agriculture without the benefit of agricultural training? That is the figure in which I am interested.

The trouble is here that one question prompts another but it usually prompts another which has nothing whatever to do with the question on the Order Paper. That is what is happening here.

I must submit that certainly this would have. I think the Minister has the information required but perhaps he is too embarrassed to give it to us.

It is a separate question.

I do not think it is but I will accept your ruling, Sir. Would the Minister accept that people going into farming receive much less education than people going into any other field? Does he propose to change that practice?

I do not accept that that is the case. The only figure I have which may be of interest to the Deputy is that it is estimated that approximately 75 per cent of the students who attend these agricultural colleges go back to farming.

But there are a great many people who cannot get into an agricultural college.

I cannot estimate that.

(Limerick West): Has the Minister available to him the number of young farmers who go into agriculture and who participate in the various courses, more recently the course known as No. 161 under the EEC, and also those who attend the course known as the green certificate in farming?

No, I have not the individual figures. I have the total for the three, that is one one-year course and two two-year courses. I have just the general list; I have not the breakdown.

(Limerick West): In addition to the numbers attending agricultural colleges is the Minister satisfied that the numbers attending these courses are sufficient, that the training is sufficient for those entering agriculture?

Yes, I am satisfied that it is sufficient. I visit a number of these colleges in the course of the year and the standards are very high.