Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The GLAS scheme is not overly onerous for hen harrier farmers. I have met them at public meetings and they are very happy with the scheme. The numbers applying suggest they are happy with it. The reason some of the larger land owners did not apply was that they were worried that if they did, they would be excluded from a future scheme.

We have reassured them that they will not be. In fact, the future scheme will be a top-up scheme for farmers who have more than 19 hectares of designated land. It will probably also deal with some other related issues. We will have to obtain approval from the Commission for it next year. That is the intention.

To respond to the questions from Deputy Martin Ferris about the dairy payment, it is positive. It took a while to negotiate with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform which needed to understand the reason it was important, but we have a full top-up payment to which dairy farmers can look forward to receiving. It is not massive, but it will make a difference between now and the end of the year and I hope it will provide some insulation in dealing with the difficulties being faced on price. We are budgeting to pay out a sum of €24.8 million. The total amount is €27.4 million, minus €1.6 million for young farmers and €1 million for those involved in the pig sector. We will pay out a vast proportion of it this year and the rest will be paid early next year. Almost €25 million will be paid this year. There are not too many other countries in the European Union in which that amount will be delivered.

I feel very strongly about the World Food Programme to which in recent years we have been giving just under €10 million. We entered into a three-year commitment. The World Food Programme needs the money in order that it can plan. The Irish people are very anxious to make a practical commitment to try to alleviate the suffering of refugees. There are about 4 million Syrian refugees living in refugee camps which is almost the population of Ireland. The World Food Programme is the largest humanitarian organisation on the planet and is feeding most of these refugees. I thought it was a very good way to spend money. The money is not tied entirely to refugee camps, but we have given an indication that we would like it to be spent on refugees, where possible.