Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for the presentations, which were very interesting. I seek to balance the argument on Common Agricultural Policy reform a little. The stark reality is that there is land abandonment in one part of the country and land scarcity in my part of the country. Unfortunately, people cannot get their hands on it, and I know the witnesses are hearing day in and day out about the lack of availability of land for active farmers.

With the approximation model, I am slightly concerned that we will see many payments transferred to non-productive land. Transfers will take place. If there is only 63% draw-down, with 7% of total land area in commonage, that would equate to a theoretical loss of approximately 2.59% in total, or €33.6 million. I know it would be less than that, but the point is that much of the €1.3 billion coming in would not be used productively, which is a major loss to the country. If it came to the farmers that are already producing, it would certainly not be wasted.

A second point is about grazing. Mr. Evans may understand what I am trying to get at. If there is a percentage draw-down of funds in commonages - there is a history of only a certain amount being drawn down - the result is-----