Mr. Gerry Gunning:

On Deputy Ó Cuív's point about the justification for agri-environment schemes, the scheme will run in parallel with management plans for commonages. There are not other groups of farmers outside of commonages who have management plans. If that were the case, they too could be part of an agri-environment scheme. The scheme will be part of the next rural development programme, of which 25% of the funding has been allocated for agri-environment schemes. These schemes are compulsory for member states, although it is not compulsory for farmers to participate in them.

The focus today is on a strong agri-environment scheme in the commonage area, one which will run in parallel with the management plans which will hopefully arise out of the discussions. As Mr. Fadian and Mr. McCarthy stated, we need flexibility and there may be different solutions for different areas. The Chairman will be more familiar than most with the problems we have experienced with commonages in various areas.

On dormant shares, this is where the matter becomes tricky because if land is dormant, one cannot tell who owns it and one will use the dormant share because it is not being used. The dormant share should become part and parcel of the management plan and discussions should take place at local level to decide how to deal with dormant shares. The Department has not made a decision on how it will deal with this matter. When discussions convene the IFA will propose that this option be given serious consideration because doing something with the dormant shares could be the only way to get some of the areas in question back into good agricultural environmental condition. This view will form part of a discussion, although different solutions may be provided in different areas. Flexibility on this issue is required for this reason.

Deputy Ó Cuív asked a question on farm incomes and he is correct that I used 2011 figures. Given that farmers were leaving REPS 3 in 2012, the position was undoubtedly worse in 2012.