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

I am always struck by the contradiction in which, in Pillar 1, the farmer sends in an application, which is done according to plots. A mapping process takes place but the biggest problem I have in my constituency office at the moment, which I am sure is the case for most Deputies, is where farmers are penalised because in the photograph taken from outer space, the ditch has grown a metre wider and he is told he has overapplied by 0.2 ha. Alternatively, he could be told of a clump of whins in the corner of the field and that his payment is being docked accordingly. There is an environmental benefit, from the point of view of biodiversity, to have a clump of whins in the corner of a field which means it is a good thing to let hedgerows grow out. All over the country farmers are cutting their hedges down to the size of the desks in this room for no other reason than that they have had such torture from the Department, which has docked money from them because they had let the hedges grow out. One thing that would immediately resolve a lot of the issues, for the farmer and the environmental scheme would be to allow flexibility in growing hedgerows. In general, the cattle eat what is underneath them and the hedgerow does not inhibit them in any way. It is better for the cattle and the farmer because it creates more shelter and the cows can be left out for longer, yet the Department insists that, even if the satellite photograph is out by just a little bit, the farmer is penalised. This has been detrimental to the environmental standards the Department is trying to set but it is one of the things in Pillar 1 that can be done immediately with the stroke of a pen.