Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We deal with fisheries as well. That is all I will say about it. If we do not do something to assist young farmers, they will just not be bothered. If we cannot ensure that there is something in this programme for the young fellows coming on, there are so many other opportunities that it will be to the detriment of rural Ireland and the culture we are so proud of which has been handed to us over generations. We will lose a lot if there is not something in this round of CAP and LEADER. I listened to one of the witnesses on the television in my room before I came down and I am sorry that I do not know his name. He said that the current LEADER programme is much the same as the last one. I do not agree with him on that. It is different in 100 ways. The last local LEADER programme was developed by the local development companies and we were the envy of Europe. The big man from Kilkenny, Phil Hogan, changed all of that and it is not for the best. Now the local authorities are involved in it and they have enough to do without getting stuck in these things. There was a bottom-up approach where rural communities sought and got funding to develop rural-based products, ideas and programmes, which has been lost. As Deputy Michael Collins said, it is hardly mentioned at all in the neck of the woods where I come from because it is not directed to where it was heretofore. We are all watching who will decide who is the genuine farmer. I believe that everyone who I know who is involved in farming is in it for the best of reasons but many of them cannot survive and have to get off-farm jobs. I hope that they will not be left out of the new programme. I will be watching that closely, as will many other people.

We talk about forestry and it is important. Currently, one will only qualify for a grant if one plants 80% of good ground and 20% of marginal ground. Where I come from, that is not the way the land is made up. It is 80% marginal ground and 20% good agricultural ground. If the witnesses are serious about forestry and forestry production, they must ensure that there is funding and that people are allowed to plant marginal land because one can do very little but plant it. Places are being refused permission to be planted because of hen harrier designations and because people do not have 80% arable ground. Those rules are why planting of new forest has practically stopped in Kerry.