Mr. Kevin Kinsella:

I agree with Deputy Naughten and thank him for his support. Increasing the funding will only partially protect the money in the single farm payment, but if we do not do that it will be eroded further. That is the fundamental point.

Second, of course there are options and other things the Minister can do in Pillar 2 but that is a debate for a different day. Today we are discussing the sheep grassland scheme, which is a Pillar 1 payment. Naturally we would like to pull it out and keep it separate. That was the original IFA proposal to the Minister but he says that technically he cannot do that. We are trying to find a way whereby we can protect as much of it as we can for the future. It is not a perfect solution.