Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs – in the Senedd at 12:56 pm on 24 June 2020.
Well, I appreciate your transparency, Minister, and I would implore you to make that report available if there are no constraints on you making it available. There might be some legal constraints that I'm unaware of, but, if that could be made available, I think it would be appreciated.
Last week, the Northern Ireland Executive announced a £25 million support package for agriculture in relation to the COVID-19 crisis. The Republic of Ireland Government has put a £45 million support package in place for the agricultural industry. Have you had discussions with the finance Minister, given the consequentials that have come down and the additional economic resilience measures that have been made available to other sectors in the Welsh economy—have you had a conversation with the finance Minister to see whether a similar level of support could be put in place to support the agricultural industry, which in certain circumstances has seen price decreases of 15 to 20 per cent in the price margin that they can sell their product into, and into a sector that has very often closed down, such as the service sector?