During next year's local, European and general elections, the public will have the same interest in Fine Gael as they would have in contracting the bubonic plague. Why? It is because they will not trust it. When I and my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group continually raise the fact that it is looking at reducing the national herd, the Taoiseach denies that. I want to thank Ciaran Moran and the people in the Irish Independent and Farming Independent for their FOI request. A dossier was released containing proposals of which Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Greens were well aware. They have all been behind this. It proposes another massive cull of the national herd. I want the Taoiseach to say something to Irish farmers and people in rural Ireland. I have said continually, and I get no satisfaction from saying it, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have lost rural Ireland. The Greens never had it. Fine Gael lost it because of the way it continually treats people in rural Ireland, in particular people in the farming sector.

I hope that the Deputy is happy that it is I who will respond to this point. When he talks about people being part of a narrative, people on that side of the House have been part of a narrative for a long time. They have told farmers something that is not true, namely that the Government somehow wants to take cows off people and force a cull of the national herd. That is not the case. We have always been very clear about options, and supporting farmers in those options and supporting them financially to make the best decision for themselves. What was reported today in the Irish Independent is an options paper on modelling that was put forward by the Department. There is no final policy decision. This should not be a surprise to the House because we came together after targets were set for all of the different sectors. The sectoral target for a reduction in emissions for agriculture was set at 25%. We brought together all stakeholders in the beef and dairy sectors. We came up with a report that was published in full last autumn. It set out a number of options, one of which was a voluntary retirement exit scheme for those farmers who want to avail of it. What was reported today is one modular working out of the detail of what the options papers would look like. There has been no final decision in this area. I reassure the Deputy, unlike the narrative that has been delivered that farmers will be forced to take actions, that is not the case. Options will be open to them and they will be able to make their own decisions.