Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the final question, as I am, obviously, very familiar with the Border. I absolutely agree with the idea of a Border development zone. It is well worth considering in the context of Brexit, which will clearly be felt more severely along the Border areas than elsewhere. We are looking at increasing tourism in rural areas. I have specifically proposed developing a "borderlands" tourism initiative running from the Cooley Peninsula to the Donegal coast. That would naturally bring in a band that links a tourism trail into and out of the North. I am very keen on promoting and developing that. Brexit presents an opportunity to work even closer together. We will never need to work closer together than we will need to on Brexit. That is something I am looking at developing further.

The lakelands project existed some years ago and is something we should be looking at. The action plan for rural development calls for the further development of the lakelands project, which will have an impact on Border counties such as Cavan and Monaghan as well as Longford and Roscommon.

The Chairman mentioned farming. We continue with the roll-out of CAP payments, which is worth over €1.2 billion to farmers. The last budget introduced a number of taxation measures to assist the farming sector including: an increase in the earned income tax credit for self-employed; the roll-out of a new income-averaging step out for farmers; the extension of farm restructuring capital gains tax relief to the end of 2019; the investigation of taxation measures which might support farmers through periods of income volatility which they have had recently; and the implementation of changes to the farm assist scheme which will increase the value of the weekly farm assist payments for low-income farmers and in particular for those with children which will ensure that farm families are supported in actively farming their land.

We have the development of the training and advice initiatives aimed at farmers to assist in farm management. Farm safety is a big issue and it is also mentioned in the plan, as are sustainable farming and off-farm income generation.

I agree with what the Chairman said about the huge opportunities in the energy development sector. The action plan contains several actions that relate specifically to renewable energy. I agree that a considerable amount of farm waste could be used more effectively and turned into renewable energy. There is a full section on renewable energy that has been developed in conjunction with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment.