Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will direct my questions at Mr. Harty and Mr. Bryan. Mr. Harty spoke about alleviating the difficulties in dispersing funding by moving away from ring-fencing under the fair deal scheme. My experience of the demand for the fair deal scheme suggests there is insufficient money in its budget to meet demand. I ask him to help me understand how more money can be made available by reducing ring-fencing. Home care packages are severely under-funded. As Mr. Dunne noted, supports vary depending on the part of the country in which they are administered.

I have read Mr. Bryan's various submissions. It appears he is approaching the issue from two vantage points. The first is the protection of schemes for environmental or subsistence farming and the second is reaching Food Harvest 2020. Does he think we are where we should be in terms of reaching our targets or are we ahead of or behind the curve?