Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation. The IFA does tremendous work in supporting farmers across the country. I note an allocation of €50 million towards targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, TAMS, but many farmers find it difficult to get the existing allocation. Many have been approved for slatted houses and so on only for the specifications to be changed and their approvals withdrawn. There is all kinds of messing going on. Naturally, it is important to seek additional money for TAMS, but farmers should get the existing allocation more quickly. Accelerating the process is vital but has not been done, which has disappointed many farmers the length and breadth of the country.

Regarding areas of natural constraint, ANCs, I come from the west where there is poorer, marginal land and farmers are on smaller holdings. It is vital that there be a recognition that ANCs must be prioritised in the next number of budgets. Mr. Healy was in north Leitrim and Donegal in recent weeks and would have seen for himself that people were barely surviving. The kind of land that they are working on puts them at a significant disadvantage. This must be recognised as we move into the budgetary process.