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

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I have followed this issue with interest for a while. I wish Mr. Finan the best in his new position. I listened to him speak about the TAMS and he is right about including people. If a young farmer walks into a bank in the morning and tells the bank manager he or she is putting up a shed or buying a bit of land, am I correct to state the first thing he or she will be asked for is the single farm payment? Farmers are not asked how many cattle they have, they are asked about the single farm payment. Do the witnesses agree that the present average single farm payment in the country for 32 ha is alarming? We are looking at young farmers with 90 ha. Adding 90 and 90 is 180 and adding 45 gives 235 acres.

Have the witnesses spoken to the Department about considering a 40 ha or 50 ha threshold, which may give money to all these guys under 40 years of age who have no payments? My understanding from the figures I received from the Department is there are almost 4,000 of them. Not all of them are as low as Mr. O'Brien and some of them are higher. My understanding is the total figure is €12 million and we need to ensure there is enough money in the pot to include everyone. It will be a sad day if we do not bring in the new farmers. Recently I watched George Lee on the television, who told us the beef barons are able to get €500,000 in a single farm payment. Many of us are from the west where many of the farmers are elderly.

We are not bringing in the new blood we need. It would be great if we could bring in the 5,500 farmers who have applied along with 4,000 more. Let us face it, only 10% in the whole demographic are changing. Year by year we must encourage it.

Macra na Feirme has welcomed the young farmer scheme. Was this on the basis of 90 ha or does it believe everyone should be included? We must watch that we are not always looking after the big fellows and think of the ordinary person with 30 ha, 40 ha or 50 ha.