Mr. Brendan Gleeson:

Yes. There is another important point here. We have been through a complex and difficult negotiation with the Commission. This is a kind of leap for the Commission as it is an aid to a suckler scheme that involved getting approval from the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Directorate General for Climate Action and the Directorate General for the Environment, and persuading them that this scheme, which will improve the efficiency and profitability of the beef sector in Ireland, will also deliver benefits for the environment. We have just come through that process and have a scheme approved. To be perfectly frank, going back to the Commission with another negotiation that would have to go through inter-service consultation would put at risk the payments we want to make this year.

The Minister has already agreed that we will engage with farm bodies in the context of a mid-term review. The concerns that emerge as we run the programme will be taken into account. What is really important now is that we engage with individual applicants, that they talk to their Teagasc advisers and that they get clear information on the scheme. We will try and do that as much as we can.

People have a difficulty with the replacement strategy. All I can say on it is that this is something on which we engaged carefully with the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, and experts. We are assured there are enough animals in the system to address the issues on the replacement strategy. For example, 75% of herds already have a four- or five-star bull in the terminal or maternal index. We think there are enough replacement animals out there, based on the best information we have from people who know what they are talking about, and I have confidence that they know what they are talking about.

There was an issue about the reliability of the index. An index, by its nature, evolves over time. There is no doubt that the information we are gathering now will improve the quality and reliability of the index we have. I would expect those changes to be incremental. The scheme requires animals to be of four- or five-star standard at the date of genotyping or at the date of purchase. If there is a change in the star rating of an animal afterwards, it should not result in any penalties for the farmer.

Deputy Connaughton raised issues about communications with farmers and I accept there is a view that the Department might have attended Irish Farmers Association, IFA, meetings and so on. We have written and sent information sheets to 70,000 farmers, spoken to 8,000 farmers on the phone through our helpline and have put frequently asked questions up on our website. We will have training as part of the programme so that people involved with it will be taught how to use the indexes. It is important that people get information directly from the Department and from those who are running the scheme. In the next week or two, we will send a letter to people which will be quickly followed by information from the ICBF on the star ratings of the herds. At that point, people can make a decision.

Deputy Ó Cuív mentioned a case in which someone was told that if they did not withdraw from the scheme before they had the letter from the ICBF, they would be penalised. That is absolutely incorrect.