Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not here to defend anybody but as a result of a lot of lobbying in the past year and a half, we ensured that the TAMS scheme included tillage farmers. That is welcome and I hope it will be rolled out in the new year. We also lobbied to ensure that tillage farmers would be included in the loan scheme, which was not the case initially. I hear the views of different members, and of the IFA, but tillage farmers have not been left out. The Minister said there would be an ongoing review of the farmers who applied for it so that no sector dominated, and that is the right thing to do.