Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recall the last round of Leader funding when the then Minister, Phil Hogan, had to redistribute funding from certain Leader companies that did not spend their money. There were problems and some money was not being spent. Some Leader companies even went to the wall, including one of the three in my area. The money needs to be spent.

Earlier, we were dealing with electronic tagging of sheep.

I know the Minister is aware of this, but farmers are not too impressed at being asked to pay for this. I wanted to make just one point about the equity of this, and I made it when representatives of the meat industry and Department officials came before the committee. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland is issuing its audit report, which points to deficiencies in Department inspections of factories and the jobs the factories might do. One can talk about inspections and paperwork and so on. The reality is that this move will benefit everyone, but the only people paying the €50 the Minister is talking about, which, wherever that money comes from, is taxpayers' money, is the farmer, ultimately, because it is a flat fee for him or her. There is therefore a question about the equity of this and fees being piled on farmers again. While €50 is not the biggest sum in the world, it all adds up. As I said earlier, we have sheep farmers where I am situated and we have suckler cow farmers, and they all say the next generation is not interested. This just compounds it and, of course, we all know about the extended winter we had.

I wish to make a few points about the beef data and genomics programme. As the Minister knows, a few weeks ago, we had the Irish Charolais Cattle Society and the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation, ICBF, before the committee. I think everyone in general agreed with the merits of a more scientific approach to breeding and looking at genetic information that can improve breeding. That makes sense. I think there are certain disputes over how the programme is operating, especially on the part of the Irish Charolais Cattle Society. More to the point, seeing as the ICBF plays a pivotal part in the rolling out of the beef data and genomics programme and a commitment was given at the time that there would be a review of the programme by the Minister of the day after a number of years, I think concerns were raised. My understanding is that the gist of this was that it is a very good idea but there is not enough genetic data or information at present to make the star ratings mandatory. One point the ICBF made well is that on its board, which of course existed before this scheme came into being, the cattle breeders have a very small representation and feel they are not getting an input into the way in which that ship is being steered. The witnesses at that meeting made some good points, bearing in mind that these cattle breeding societies also have an interest in excellence in breeding. They raised some legitimate questions.

Going back to the sheep again, the Minister is basically saying there are no underspends in any scheme - nothing.