Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said only a small percentage of farmers have a figure of more than 3% and that an even smaller percentage have a figure of more than 20%. What percentage have less than ten or 20 ha?

The problem is that for a farmer with 100 ha, 3% is 3 ha which is a hell of a mistake to make. However, for a farmer with 10 ha, it is 0.3 ha and for a farmer with 5 ha, it is 0.15 ha. If the Minister examines the map, which I need back after a while, he will find it very instructive. Based on the Land Registry map that the land holder had - that person did not have the Department's mapping techniques - one can see how this thing can be totally disproportionate to the people at the bottom of the pile. It is involving a huge bureaucratic engine and at the end of the day there is not much money involved with these very small farmers. A farmer is getting €100 a hectare. For someone who is 0.4 ha out and if that represents more than 3%, the farmer gets cut by 1.2 ha multiplied by the five years from 2009 to 2013. That suddenly becomes 7 ha which means that it is virtually one year's payment gone.