As the Tánaiste knows it has been a difficult year for the farming community across various sectors. The tillage sector especially has suffered much pressure this year, particularly those tillage farmers who lost crops along the western coast due to the wet weather during the harvest. I have raised this several times. Tillage farmers continue to raise the need for a crisis fund with the Government. There is spare funding available in the Department's current budget, which the Minister will use to forward pay some World Food Programme moneys for next year. The capacity is there to provide a crisis fund but, unfortunately, the political will is not. Will the Government consider a crisis fund, accede to it and put it in place before the end of the year?

The programme for Government has a commitment to protect farm incomes. Tillage farmers in south-west Cork are actually at crisis point due to a period of bad prices and, more particularly, because of the wet September we experienced in west Cork. Will the Tánaiste give a commitment today as to whether these farmers will be compensated or not?

I will ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to communicate with the Deputies directly on any action he is intending to take. I am sure he is well aware of this issue.