Price fluctuation is a major problem for Irish farmers. I heard on Euronews last night that at one time there were 4 million farmers in France, but now there are 1 million ranchers. The same appears to be happening in this country. The Government and previous Governments through the years have neglected family farms. Family farms are responsible for holding a great many local communities together in terms of their schools and shops. The Minister has created a bubble in the dairy industry, which is now turning sour. I grant that €13 million has been given to the dairy sector, but a bubble has been created in which 60,000 more calves will turn into cattle and hit the beef sector within the next 12 months. Promises the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the cartels in the factories agreed last January are now being broken and prices are dropping. Those promises are being broken without the Minister doing anything about it. Prices in the sheep sector seem to be falling the whole time. Young farmers trying to get out there, even though some of them went into it before 2008, have been forgotten. CAP funding is not for the family farm, with 80% of it going to the 20% of ranchers around the country. GLAS was put into Pillar 2 for the so-called family farm. In May last year, GLAS came out and 25,000 people went into it. Sadly, while it is a good thing that it is opening again, GLAS has been changed around completely. The family farm is being driven out of it.

I was at a meeting the other night about the beef genomics scheme. The statistics tell one that they are relying on 40% accurate information to tell farmers what to do. One cannot run a business on 40% accurate information. We have a Minister who is talking about helping different parts of rural Ireland.

Will the Deputy put his question?

Germany has signed up to the ban on genetically modified foods. Is Ireland signing up? Is the EU trying to bring ranchers in right around Europe, not only Ireland, given the way the grants system is progressing, when one looks at different countries and their different stories? Will the Taoiseach intervene in respect of the broken promises of the factories? In particular, I ask the Taoiseach to look at the hill farmers in his own area.

The Deputy is way over time.

He is well familiar with small family farms. Will he get involved in the GLAS proposals to ensure that farmers going into it are treated equally by comparison with the farmers last May? Are we going to have two farmers beside each other-----

Did the Deputy hear me? Will he put his question, please?

-----with the same acreage, one of whom is getting €1,500?

Will the Deputy please put his question?

Will the Taoiseach answer those questions, please?

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for his questions. He ranged over three different areas: GLAS, the beef genomics scheme and GMOs. He has also raised the issue of the decline in the number of farmers at European level, although he did not define what he considers to be a rancher in Irish terms. He made the point about rural development programmes. The enthusiasm and energy that was evident at the recent National Ploughing Championship from people all over the country, most of whom were small farmers, was self-evident. Every agricultural course in every agricultural college is booked out because young people now see the agri sector as central to their future ambitions and careers. GLAS will see the participation of 50,000 farmers, all of whom are small to medium-size farmers and not ranchers by Irish standards. The Common Agricultural Policy, with the extra €100 million thrown in for the rural development programme, the recent allocation in respect of the programme for the next number of years dealing with CEDRA, and the putting in place of a national strategy to allow communities, including family farms, to draw and avail of assistance are there for all to see.

I do not accept the Deputy's assertion at all that the Irish agri sector is in any way in decline. Of course, the lifting of milk quotas is not responsible in itself for the decline in milk prices. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, fought a good battle at European level to get an extra €13 million, which will be distributed based on the recommendations of the dairy forum, an important institution for dairy farmers - who are all, by the way, carbon-footprinted and contributing greatly to the future economic development of the country. Clearly, the beef trade can fluctuate, and factories have always had their influence in terms of setting prices. That is why we have managed to get access to the American market, the Japanese market for specialised cuts and the Chinese market. These are opportunities that must be worked on over the next period.

There is no commercial cultivation of GMO crops in Ireland, as the Deputy is aware. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the different agencies continue to discuss and consider the revised legislation on genetically modified cultivation and what, if any, are the practical and legal implications for the future. It is considered that acting to restrict cultivation where no cultivation would occur is unnecessary. Irish GMO policy, including in relation to the opt-out clause, which Ireland supported when first proposed, is continuously kept under review on the basis of experience and the approaches across member states. Ireland can still opt out of GM cultivation beyond the deadline of 3 October. None of the currently authorised GM crops will be cultivated in Ireland.

As such, while the Deputy paints a depressing picture of the agri sector, it is fundamentally central to the development of the economy for the next ten, 15 and 20 years.

There are challenges in there, but will dealing with this issue in a carefully structured way not lead to the futures and the ambitions and the livelihoods of thousands of family farms in the country?