Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister has said, this issue was identified back in 2015 and 2016. It has now been nearly a decade since then. In the past ten years, I do not believe it is fair or makes much sense, given this Government has now been in place for four years. If the Department was going to establish a system in February, it is now April. Given there are no details of the scheme or what it will look like and given there is no funding in place, is the Minister committing here today that, between now and the end of this term of Government, which will be in February of next year, a scheme will be put in place for the forgotten farmers and that they will be able to access that scheme between now and February? If the Minister is going to make that commitment, he should make it here today. It is concerning that, ten years after the fact, there is still no scheme and no detail of a scheme. A system was being built two months ago, but there does not seem to have been any mention of that here today. There is no funding to support these farmers either. Is the Minister committing that the scheme will be put in place between now and February of next year, which is a matter of months away?

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