Mr. Joe Healy:

It is not a movement. Marts have a special exemption in that one can bring one's animals to a mart and bring them home again. The Deputy is right that having only four movements is wrong. Let us say Deputy Danny Healy-Rae is a quality assured farmer who has signed up to the Bord Bia quality assurance scheme, satisfies all of the criteria and his first cousin is Joe Healy, minus the surname of Rae, and he, too, is a quality assured farmer. If I sell my cattle to the Deputy and all they do is move in a trailer from my farm to his farm then that should not be classed as a movement. Even worse than that, let us say Deputy Danny Healy-Rae rents a shed from the farmer next door, operates a bed and breakfast and does all of the feeding of the cattle over the winter. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae must move those cattle from his herd number into that man's herd number even though he has never seen them and the Deputy looks after the cattle. When the Deputy moves them back into his own herd number it will be deemed two movements and, as a result, one is halfway to losing bonus payments. The IFA has constantly lobbied about the matter but there has been little progress. It all comes back to the power of the processor and retailer in the food chain.

I have dealt with the query about the basic payment scheme, BPS.

The IFA lobbied hard for the fair deal scheme to be included in the budget. Unfortunately, it was not delivered. It has been mentioned that a 50% rate might be introduced. Ms Rowena Dwyer, the IFA's chief economist, compiled figures on the fair deal scheme and discovered that a 50% rate would add nothing. A farm is to a farmer what a hammer is to a carpenter. A farm is only a tool to generate an income to keep a family or individuals off social welfare and in employment. The IFA makes no apologies for being against anything that puts a farm at risk. In terms of the fair deal scheme, a farm is only a productive asset that we want removed from the calculations. It is fair enough to include a house or private residence but not the tool that is used to generate an income.

The final issue I will address is excise duty on agricultural diesel, an issue on which we lobbied hard. While I accept that prices at the pumps are increasing, at least we avoided an increase in excise and common sense prevailed. Agricultural diesel is the fuel that keeps rural Ireland alive.