Mr. Eddie Downey:

There were many very solid comments made. I do not propose to address all of them as it would take too long to do so; suffice it to say big issues arise. These issues, many of which we have highlighted, include the lack of joined-up thinking, the question of which Department is responsible and the conflict between the NPWS, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. There is no one taking responsibility. We simply cannot have circumstances in which farmers are penalised because of inadequacies in other areas, as is happening here. That is the problem. We have been given information by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine vis-à-vismaps in recent years. That is how farmers made their applications and now they are being fined based on this; that is simply wrong. We all know this, but it is critical to determine how we can move forward.

We need clarity on what is eligible and ineligible and await the Department's booklet. Deputy Martin Ferris asked whether we should sit down with departmental representatives and go through these areas to determine what we should do from here. The problem is that it is too late; it is the eleventh hour. The Minister and the Department need to do their job and publish the documents. The Department held a series of meetings around the country, at which it had an opportunity to put the information in front of farmers. This should have been done at the time. It is a failure on the part of the Department which must make up for it. It must get it right and give the information to farmers immediately. Producing it in booklet form for farmers and planners and submitting the applications is simply not enough. The next step is to introduce proper tolerances. As was said by a number of members, the matter is subjective. The instructions given in the booklet issued by the Department will be open to interpretation by the planner, the farmer or the inspector, European or Irish. Therefore, we need tolerances to ensure farmers will not be penalised and caught out for doing what they believe is right and acting responsibly.

Let us consider the question of land abandonment and the risk associated with it. It is evident that if we keep imposing these types of rule, we will force people away and they will decide to walk away. That is wrong. It is not the objective of the European Union; it is not why European taxpayers invested money in recent years in rural areas across Europe; they invested in order to keep them in their current condition. Ireland is not in a bad position, but the arrangement needs to be worked on. As stated by many, within GLAS plans, including plans being drawn up, there needs to be an opportunity to make land eligible during or by the end of the planning period. That is essential, but mistakes have been made in recent times. Issues such as destocking, restocking, overgrazing and undergrazing can be resolved only by taking one commonage at a time, with a plan for each in order that the land can be made eligible during the relevant period.

That is the only route where we can see a solution to those problems.

We were asked about yellow cards and a specific question on what the charter of rights stands for as part of the tolerance system. The old charter of rights currently stands but the new one is almost there if the Minister would do his job and sign off on it. It needs to be signed off immediately. The basic position with the charter of rights is that once it is drawn up and agreed, the Minister is responsible and the Department must adhere to it. Legal status or no legal status, that is the position on that.

The last point I will make before I let in the others beside me relates to advice. The 2015 application is a critical application for farmers. It will set the scene for the payments that farmers will get for the next number of years. It will also set the scene for the amount of funding that we will draw down and bring into this country on an annual basis over the next number of years. Therefore, it is critical that we have clarity on the information that farmers and planners have as regards making these applications. It is critical that we get these applications right so that we do not face fines further down the road and the only way we can be sure of that is to have proper information out there.