Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday night, I was at a meeting in Athlone about land eligibility. The fact is that if this continues the way it is going, we will see the abandonment of land, or else people will forget about the payments system and will stock mountains or land again the way they always did. The Department cannot have it both ways. I think the farming organisations would agree there are no clear guidelines for any departmental officials. There appears to be a hit squad out at the moment. I have spoken to one person who was brought out to adjudicate on something. They were told to look up and down a mountain and whatever was not grazed was cut out. Obviously, if 20% of that is gone, one's payment is gone.

The facts are there to back it up. A person in County Galway who is inspected is one third more likely to get a penalty than a person in County Roscommon who in turn is one third more likely to get a penalty than someone in County Westmeath.

We have to go back to where this began. Designations are taking place, especially in west Cork, Kerry and right up along the west coast as far as Donegal. Destocking has taken place as well. I was at a meeting yesterday with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. A farmer from Nephin said he had complied with everything that was required to have a good ecological status. Now they are paying the price, however, when someone else from another Department comes out. Someone has to make a call on this. Will the National Parks and Wildlife Service walk away and leave farmers abandoned in different parts of the country because someone else from a different Department is coming in?

Where does the IFA's charter of rights stand? Has it a legal standing or is it just an agreement? From what I can see, Departments are trying to sign up to a charter of rights. It is great and everyone is happily taking photographs, but a few years down the road it stands for nothing. Any time I have seen this challenged, it has not stood up.

As regards GLAS, it is acknowledged that the Agricultural Consultants Association is advising 45,000 farmers throughout the country. What is the feedback from its members on GLAS and its delivery to farmers, especially those who came out of REPS? I would like an answer to that question.

We have often decided to solve a problem in Ireland and not tell them in Europe or vice versa.

It is clear from the meeting that rules concerning land eligibility introduced in Ireland by the environmental and agriculture Departments in Europe need to be submitted to the two corresponding Departments in Ireland in order that the way forward can be decided. The Welsh have come up with a solution, although it is not ideal in all scenarios. In Spain, Cyprus and other countries there are problems also.

I heard references to the leaving out of land. If land was deemed good enough ten or 12 years ago - farmers have had inspections carried out during the years - why is it not deemed good enough now? The answer in many cases is that farmers had to transfer from farming in one way to farming in another because of rules and regulations. The rules and regulations were brought forward not by the farmers but by the European Union. We have to establish what the authorities want. They cannot have butter on both sides of their bread. Clear guidelines must be issued in order that farmers will know where they are going and then they can make a decision. Are they to go down the road in question or must they, on being abandoned after going down a road for eight or ten years, return to the way they were farming in the past and forget about some of the payments?