Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Farmers can look forward to an increased RDP spend every year for the next six years if we are going to get to an average spend of €565 million. However, we cannot go straight from €405 million to €565 million overnight, given budgetary constraints and the expenditure profile. It does show the success of negotiations around getting Exchequer co-funding for a rural development programme which is essentially the same in value terms as the last rural development programme. Given the budgetary pressures we now have, I think that is a pretty good achievement.

We are currently spending €23 million on the beef genomics scheme, but we will be spending €53 million when it is fully up and running. The figure will be €43 million next year plus €10 million, which is €53 million for the suckler beef sector. It is true to say that we are focusing on the genomics scheme for suckler beef, but the dairy industry has been focused on genomics for years - it just has not been paid for it. Those in the industry get their money from better breeding and better-performing animals in terms of DNA assessments and genomic research in dairy. The Deputy is right that in future, as we see an increased dairy herd size, we will get more beef animals coming from the dairy herd. As we see more developments on sexed semen, we will see dairy farmers being able to essentially set aside perhaps 15% of their breeding for replacements. They will then be breeding the rest of their herd to beef animals or bulls in order to get a much better beef animal coming out of the dairy herd. That is a good thing because it will raise standards. I still think the best beef in the country will come from the suckler herd and I certainly hope it will get the highest price abroad.

We need to look after the suckler herd. The last thing we want is to see beef become a by-product of a growing dairy industry. That is why I have been putting a lot of money into the beef sector, particularly the suckler beef sector, when there has not been a lot of money around. We will see that happening into the future also.

Deputy Pringle raised the question of foreign fishing vessels. Prices for whitefish have not been great this year and there are a number of reasons for that. Part of it was that early on in the year there was very little fishing going on. In fact, in January and February we only caught half our normal quota. In an effort to try to get some cashflow back into the industry we agreed to increase quotas significantly in March and April. Other countries did the same and there were market problems in terms of oversupply for a lot of whitefish in those months. I am aware that there are price pressures on the whitefish sector but I am not convinced that that is because of foreign vessels landing in Ireland. If we cannot catch fish with Irish trawlers the next best thing is to have foreign trawlers landing into Irish ports, where we can process, package, add value and grade fish. We can thus employ people in rural coastal communities to do that. There are good examples of that in the pelagic sector, including with blue whiting in Killybegs. There are also some good examples concerning whitefish in places such as Ballycotton and Castletownbere.

I have not received feedback that foreign landings are undercutting prices in the whitefish sector at the moment. We must remember that most of this product gets exported anyway and is sold in the same markets it would be sold into if it were being processed in La Rochelle, Brest or Vigo. However, since the Deputy has asked the question, I will make a few inquiries into it. Not everybody likes the idea that foreign boats are landing more into Ireland. Personally, I think it is a good thing for the sector. It is a way of increasing the volume of fish through our port infrastructure.

I was also asked about aquaculture. The number of licences we have got through so far this year is pretty low. I do not have an exact figure, but nearly all the licences we got across the line last year - and there were more than 200 of them - were effectively in the last quarter of the year. Twenty-five licence determinations are expected for Donegal Bay, with 60 for Dungarvan Harbour, another 60 for Clew Bay, 11 for Valentia and the Portmagee channel, 35 for Galway Bay and 70 in Kenmare Bay. We are trying to do everything we can to progress aquaculture licences when and where appropriate, and to have a transparent and robust system to do that. The Deputy knows only too well that if one does not do this properly one will be in the courts, and it will be a much longer process.

The processing of applications for dairy equipment received in the final tranches under the first targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, which closed on 31 December 2013, is continuing. All applications are now being examined under the dairy equipment scheme and farmers are being notified of any errors. In the case of the sheep fencing/mobile handling equipment scheme, fewer than 400 applications remain on hand.

These applications should be processed by the end of October. The final date for completion of work is the end of August 2015. A new TAM scheme will open in January.

TAMS is not as straightforward as one might think. People apply, get a basic approval, and then sometimes nothing happens. Then they demand an inspection before they can commence work, at a time that suits them, which does not always result in an inspection when they want it, and so on. We also have many approvals that have not resulted in drawdown. Perhaps people are waiting to see what happens with dairy prices before they go ahead and spend money. Next year we will budget for a significant TAMS spend, particularly in dairy, but also in other sectors.