Mr Seán Finan:

We have heard various accounts of different figures. I believe between 3,000 and 4,000 people are involved. Perhaps some sort of case of specific disadvantage could be made to deal with these. However, there has not been a great deal of engagement at a European level to try to come up with a solution to this problem between the Government and at an EU level. There is inconsistency in Europe over implementation of the five-year rule. It is rather annoying that there is no flexibility here at home whereas some EU member states can give that flexibility across the pillars. Where there is a will there is a way.

There is another fundamental issue. As members know, we had no national reserve in 2016. We are calling for a national reserve to be put in place for 2017 because it is critical to get more young farmers into the industry. A budget needs to be found to cater for these older young farmers. Where will that budget come from? There was no political will to provide a small fund this year - to provide a national reserve. Where will the fund come from for these older young farmers? They deserve their national reserve payment to be brought up to the national average, but there are many questions to be answered and it is not within our gift to answer those questions. That has to be done at a political level, at EU level and at Government level.