Mr. Jason Fitzgerald:

These are honourable, genuine people. They did not seek this designation or the scheme. They believed that when the State came knocking on their doors offering them something, it would stand by that. The scheme was not on offer on the day of the designation. The three-month period had elapsed. The scheme was launched later that summer. When it was launched there were a few barriers to accessing it. People who were participating in the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, could not cross over to it, or they could if they paid back all the money. If a person owned land, he or she was required to have owned it for the previous three years. If a person was renting land, he or she had to have a lease on it for the previous five years. Effectively, a person would have had to be in the middle of an 11 year agreement to join the scheme. All those small issues were a barrier to people joining it. The National Parks and Wildlife Service could clearly identify those who were participating in REPS and at what stage they were. By the time they all came out of that scheme in 2010, this scheme was closed. Many farmers in our group were on the point of joining the scheme, several of whom are in the Deputy's constituency, and they failed because of that prospect. The trust between the farmer and the State was binding and the farmers believed it was credible, but they found out about that later to their cost.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy with respect to the GLAS payment being extended. Given that forestry is no longer an option, every hectare needs to paid for now. It is different from what happened previously. Forty ha was acceptable as an alternative but there is no alternative now. Therefore, every single hectare needs to be paid at that level. The problem we face is that farmers are in year three of GLAS. I hope the committee puts this point to the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. When happens to a farmer who is in year three of the hen harrier project scheme and comes out of GLAS? Those farmers with large tracts of land would be down €7,000. What will happen then? That is something that needs to be addressed.

I believe those were the points regarding GLAS.