Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the IFA president and his delegation, my former colleagues. We are delighted to have them here again. We are coming up to a crucial time and are aware difficult decisions must be made. I am at one with and agree wholeheartedly with what has been said. It is very important the suckler cow scheme is maintained. For those of us in the west who have been producing sucklers and getting reasonably good prices for weanlings over the past couple of years, it is vital the scheme remains in place. As well as helping farmers, the scheme has done a lot for the quality of the animals. Animals exported or those finished off here in Ireland are now better quality animals and produce better prices, which is good. Therefore, we will certainly work with farmers to ensure the scheme is kept in place.

Teagasc and ICBF have run the scheme and discussion groups, as mentioned by Deputy Barry in the context of the tillage sector. It is very good for farmers to get out and learn from fellow farmers and gain experience in that way. I agree it is also very important to keep the disadvantaged area scheme in place. An attempt was made to save some money in this area last year, but it might as well have been left alone. We spoke briefly about commonage earlier, which is a serious problem. At one of the meetings yesterday, somebody suggested that where farmers within a commonage area wanted to sell land by way of another inter-commonage sale, it should be exempt from capital gains tax or stamp duty. The suggestion was there should be no tax payable where one farmer wanted to sell a share of commonage to another. This might be a way of getting around the problem. Whatever we do, the issue must be dealt with as it causes serious problems. It has been dragging on for a number of years and many commonages are undergrazed and others are overgrazed.

With regard to the environment, it is important to maintain an environmental scheme. We have the AEOS, but it is not nearly as good as the old REP scheme. Hopefully, after the CAP negotiations, we will be in a position to put a better scheme in place. We will continue to work on this. Support for younger farmers is also crucial. On inspections, I am aware that in Leitrim alone some 100 files have been returned. Senator Ó Domhnaill mentioned that inspectors were out in Donegal. In the small county of Leitrim, some 100 files were returned and farmers were not paid. Approximately 26% of people have not been paid and as soon as I finish here, I must go and make calls to try to get some of these problems sorted out. We would all agree that it is not acceptable for inspectors to be coming out at this time of year carrying out inspections on land, as the money should be coming out to farmers now. These inspections should have been carried out earlier and throughout the summer.

We would all be aware that any time money comes into farmers' pockets, they go off to the local towns and villages to shop. Even if they only buy a gate or a wheelbarrow or do a bit of shopping, they spend their money, which is beneficial to the local economy.