As the Minister and Government will be aware, there has been a major increase in costs for the agriculture sector. There has been a 127% increase in fertiliser costs, feed costs are up by more than 20% and energy costs are up by more than 30%. This is hugely concerning and costly for members of the agricultural community. Will the Minister investigate innovative ways to cut costs for farmers, particularly with respect to the SEAI and energy costs? For example, bills for dairy farmers could be in excess of €5,000 to €6,000 for energy. Could the Government look at microgeneration to target high-energy users in the agricultural community as a way of giving back to them? I acknowledge the presence of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue, in this regard. This measure would have a major impact on sustainability in agriculture, cutting costs for farmers and having a long-term and sustainable impact on the agricultural sector.

I will take that question on behalf of the Government and I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. This is something he has been advocating strongly for and it makes total sense. It is something the Government is pushing as a key priority. Within my Department there are grants for solar energy, which are available to farmers to invest in and generate energy for their farms. There has been a good uptake of that but it is something we want to progress further. Key to that is the work the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is doing on the feed-in tariff. There is tremendous potential at farm level. Farmers can make a contribution by generating electricity on their farms, getting paid for that, improving their profitability, contributing to energy security and reducing emissions. This is something the Government will be stepping out and we will be looking at ways in which we can deliver that and make it work.