Mr. Pat Smith:

There was a suggestion that the PRSI rates for the self-employed should increase. We need to be very wary of that because the availability of cash is the problem on most farms and having the ability to pay the bills on a day-to-day basis. If there is an suggestion of an increase it will have to be optional and we would insist on that. In the context of capital expenditure, we are not so pessimistic. Already this year we have met the banks in the context of the difficulties experienced by livestock and tillage farmers and they have told us that this year farmers have plans to spend approximately €300 million to €450 million. There represents a good deal of expenditure on farms. Payments under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, need to be put in place early to give farmers the confidence to proceed with investments. I have no doubt if the experience of the farm waste management scheme is anything to go by, that all of that TAMS money will be spent in the context of keeping jobs in rural Ireland.

An important job of work we have to do with regard to GLAS payments is to make sure that the money to provide for them is in the budget. I see no reason the scheme cannot be open and paid from 1 January next year. Such cashflow concerns are seriously damaging confidence, particularly in low income sectors and vulnerable regions. It is important that significant payments are made under GLAS in 2015.