Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Dillon and the Department for the presentation. First, I want to express disappointment at our ability to get information on the changes. I tried everywhere over the weekend to get a list of the townlands that have been added and, for that matter, those that have been taken out. I can get a list of all the eligible townlands in the country but there are changes in my county, and unless people knew exactly who was in the last time, they do not know who has been added this time. In my own locality I can identify townlands that have been added. I would like to have a guarantee that, before the day is out, we get a list of the townlands that have been added and a separate list of those that have been excluded.

I will not argue with the Department's figures, which suggest 700 townlands have been taken out and that this affects 760 farmers. The same applies to 2,200 new townlands that will be added, affecting 4,000 farmers. While I find those figures hard to tally, if that is what the Department says, I accept it, but in my neck of the woods townlands are of greater scale. At the same time, there have not been the kind of extensive changes we feared at the start might happen. In my part of Tipperary some areas were discriminated against the last time on the basis of income level. There are a significant number of dairy farmers in the area and, even though the land quality was definitely on the marshy side, they were excluded on the income criteria. That this has been excluded this time has obviously benefited the area and, in my view, they have got their just reward. To have the list would make it a lot easier for us to communicate with people and tell them if they are in or out, and I would like the Department to give us that list without delay.

The percentage of the country that is included must be in the middle to high 70s, and perhaps 75% of the country is receiving some disadvantaged area payment at this stage. How many hectares do we lose because of the ceiling attributed to each farmer? Exactly how many hectares are paid for? What percentage of this eligible area is lost because of the ceiling, given the ceiling was reduced in the past?

To be fair to the Department, we could always be accused of criticising it but it has done a good job on this. There was a lot of trepidation when the review was announced two or three years ago but the changes are minimal and we are definitely gaining more than we are losing.

It is an outcome we would have accepted when the review was first mooted. I would like the detailed information to be supplied.