My question is for the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and relates to the knowledge transfer scheme, the three initial years of which ran out during the past month or so.

In particular, will the Minister agree to extend the scheme for a further year? As he is aware, at the outset it was budgeted for up to 28,000 farmers to participate but only approximately 19,000 farmers have taken part in it. Given the initial envelope, there is enough funding to extend it. The scheme is of great benefit in terms of knowledge transfer but it also assists with the incomes of farmers who participate. Will the Minister give a commitment to examine the matter and to extend the scheme for a further year?

I think I answered a parliamentary question to the Deputy yesterday on this matter. I am a big admirer of the knowledge transfer programme. As Deputy McConalogue rightly acknowledges, budget 2020 provides for the existing liabilities to be met in 2020. The question is whether we will have a knowledge transfer scheme subsequent to that. That is a matter that will be considered in the context of the budgetary parameters within which the next scheme will be set. It is my ambition that we should have a successor programme. It is important for the knowledge that is transferred but also for the social engagement between farmers in the various disciplines that participate in the knowledge transfer scheme. In a profession that is practised mostly in isolation, that is as important as the knowledge that is transferred. It is my ambition, subject to budgetary constraints, to have a scheme to succeed the current one.