Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like the previous speaker, I welcome this Supplementary Estimate. It is encouraging, when one sees the overall figure for disallowances around Europe, that we are way below the average. It is 0.49% in Ireland and the overall EU average is 1.96%. That is, I suppose, how we end up where we are today. No doubt it would have been a bad news story if we could not come up with this funding for the farmers. It is a huge relief that they will not be liable for it.

I will return to a point made by a previous speaker on the volatility in the market. Deputy Penrose previously mentioned the volatility in the dairy sector. It is welcome that there was a good package put in place by the Commission and now the Minister is matching that funding by 100%. When does he propose to it to the farmers?

The dairy sector is in a volatile situation. It could be the beef sector next year and the tillage sector or another sector the following year. We are in an era of continuous volatility. Are there plans in the Department to have a fund in place to cover such eventualities for the future? It might be something worth considering in the event that there is a downward spiral in the future.

Regarding, in particular, Teagasc, and Bord Bia, I note in the Minister's presentation that the spend in Teagasc is 2% less, which is put down to there being fewer retirements.

Considering that Teagasc is going through a growth spurt with three times the normal number of students coming into the colleges and the expectation is that it will continue that way, should there be an increase rather than a reduction in spending or is it solely down to the retirement of staff? I was of the opinion that there are extra staff required as well. Extra staff were taken on board in Teagasc, particularly from an education point of view. The Minister might clarify that point.

On beef data, it is encouraging that a significant number of farmers have signed up to the scheme after much initial confusion. There has been a certain degree of flexibility in the scheme. On the point Deputy Penrose made about the number of farmers who are still not in the scheme, will there be a review of the new scheme to cover any anomalies that may exist?

Finally, as regards the farm safety scheme that the Minister announced last year, he states that some farmers did not enter the original scheme and were waiting for the bigger scheme. It is the small matters in farm safety that catch farmers. It happens to every farm. Even though the big scheme covers a lot of matters, is there a plan to have a continuous knowledge-based farm safety scheme for the future? Knowledge is the key to farm safety.

Those, more or less, are my points. I again welcome the fact that Irish farmers will not be held liable for the extra liabilities. There is considerable relief about it. It is not too often that there is a reasonably good news story. From that point of view, I welcome it and compliment the Minister on ensuring that the farmers will not be liable for the extra liabilities.