Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I am concerned about another issue. There is an increase in the amount of money for Bord Bia. It has increased to €47 million this year, which is a substantial amount for the promotion of Irish food abroad and so forth. As the Minister mentioned, much of the work involves going to what are, in effect, third countries, such as the US, Canada, China and so forth, and developing new markets. That is very welcome. However, many people would consider that many of those new markets, particularly those that are further away, are for our prime or higher quality cuts of beef. We all know that a large amount of the beef product produced in this country is the lower quality which ends up in manufacturing beef, and there is a large market for that in Britain. With Brexit approaching and the pressure that will come in respect of that product, is there an opportunity to emphasise marketing it in other European countries as a possible destination for it? What are the Minister's views on that?

Deputy Penrose said earlier that the idea of the European Union was to have cheap food. We need to get away from the cheap aspect, if we can, and talk about quality and affordable food. The idea of cheap food is our problem. Irish farmers are not in a position to produce cheap food. We are in a position to produce very high quality, affordable food to a standard that is well above what many other places can produce. We must market it in that way.

The Minister indicated that additional veterinary certificates and so forth had to be issued when product is being exported to third countries. What if we run into a difficulty with Brexit? While the intention is that we keep the market in Britain with whatever supports we can and that we will continue to supply our food there, will that impose an extra burden? We will have to produce these certificates because the UK will, in effect, be a third country if there is a crash-out, which is looking more likely every day. Having to issue all those additional veterinary certificates for export to Britain would impose a huge burden. They are not necessary at present.

The other issue is not mentioned here, but a review of the veterinary laboratories was carried out over the past year. What is the position with that? I recently spoke to people in Sligo who are very concerned about the veterinary laboratory there. A number of laboratories are under review. What is their status and what is the position with the review? It is not in the Estimates but I would appreciate it if the Minister could give a view on that.

With regard to CAP, I understand that 2% of the overall budget at European level is being set aside for young farmers. There will be more autonomy coming back to the member state regarding how it deals with these matters. Is there an opportunity to increase that perhaps to 3% of the budget? We need to do that to facilitate more younger people getting into farming.

A large section of Pillar 1 of CAP, I understand it is up to 20%, will be for eco-measures. One of those eco-measures is something that arises regularly. Most of the farmers who contact us do so because of a problem with payments. The main problem is that their basic payments are refused due to penalties being put in place. The width of hedgerows was meant to be 2 m and when the photographs were taken from the sky, they were 4 m wide because they had grown out. That was not a problem for the farmer. In fact, it was good for the farmer, for the environment, for greenhouse gas sequestration and so forth, yet the farmers are penalised for it. The hedgerow area should be included in the area that would be allowed for Pillar 1 payments under basic payments. It should have been done at all times.

The other issue relates to TAMS payments. A considerable number of people who made applications for TAMS payments have been waiting a long time for their applications to be processed. One farmer told me he had made an application and it was accepted last October. He was told it would probably be May or June before he would be approved. If farmers have to wait that long to get the building work and everything else they want to get done for the season completed, it will not work for them. Can the Minister give his view on the length of time it takes to process applications, particularly those relating to farm buildings?

I acknowledge that afforestation and biomass were mentioned. I do not wish to have an argument about it, but one of the main aspects is the tax-free nature of forestry development, which the Minister mentioned. If every cent farmers made from, say, organic farming was tax free, there would be a lot more people working in organic farming; there would be labour involved, and it would keep communities alive. However, if forestry development was tax free, 100% all the way through the process, it would cause a problem. I do not mean that there should not be tax incentives, but the level of tax incentives is excessive.