Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is not what the previous Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, or the Government of the time committed to. It is crystal clear and it is in black and white in the Government's own commitments. When the GLAS scheme was announced it was clearly committed by the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, on behalf of the Government that it would be €1.45 billion on GLAS over the course of the rural development programme. That was crystal clear. That is what he promised in his press conference, but following on from that, all the farming media put up in big headlines that it was what the Government would deliver, understandably so, because that is what the Government promised. The Minister cannot come in here four or five years later and say the Government did not really mean that, and that the money was earmarked for historical commitments rather than the GLAS scheme. That is unacceptable. That is just having people on. That is taking money out of people's hands - out of farmers' hands. That is what the Minister has done here.

I would like the Minister to address that. That is what was promised at the time, and that is €450 million short of the Government's progress today.