Mr. Paul Dillon:

Deputy Martin Kenny inquired about the categorisation of the land and whether it will be along roughly the same lines as previously. Broadly speaking, that is the thrust of the consultation we have had with the farming bodies so far. Broadly speaking, our thinking is that we would stay with pretty much the same delineation so what was regarded as mountain or mountain type grazing will be still be regarded as such and the more severely handicapped areas and less severely handicapped areas will still be pretty much the same. That is the way we are thinking.

In terms of the rates we pay, we have had a round of consultations with the farming bodies. The issue then is how much money we have to spend and how much money is taken up by the new entrants. The figure for new entrants is probably of the order of €10 million. There will be €10 million or €11 million to spend after we accommodate the people who are coming in for the first time. This then allows us headroom to give increases across all the existing people in the scheme. That is what we are discussing with the farming bodies at the moment regarding the way they see the greatest increases going.