Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Healy for his presentation. In regard to the €250 million in GLAS expenditure the Department has highlighted, some 50,000 farmers are being targeted. Given that the average payment is well below the €5,000 per farmer which was indicated when the scheme was first introduced, is Mr. Healy making the case for extra farmers to be allowed into GLAS on the basis that their inclusion would not break the €250 million ceiling? This is important. If we got up to a figure of 58,000 farmers, this would mean everybody who wants to be facilitated under GLAS can be facilitated. I would be glad to hear Mr. Healy's views.

I note what Mr. Healy said in respect of farm assist. This is a busy area for me in terms of dealing with farmers locally in Donegal. There is an issue with regard to farmers who work part-time and have an off-farm incomes, and who may be able to avail of jobseeker's benefit when they have periods of off-farm unemployment. They need a certain number of payments in order to make claims and they must also have a subsidiary income of less than €12.70 per day, which is very low. This means that a person with a farm income of over €4,600 a year cannot claim jobseeker's benefit. I have been lobbying to have this increased to approximately €25 a day, which would make a huge difference and would not be a significant cost to the Department of Social Protection. Is this something the IFA has come across in the rest of the country?