Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I congratulate the Chairman, the Vice Chairman, Senator Lombard, and the Minister on their appointments. There is much uncertainty and worry abroad now. I would like to ask some questions in that regard, and many of them may have been touched on already. What discussions are taking place in the context of the possibility of another lockdown and a no-deal Brexit? How advanced are those discussions at this stage? Turning to the Brexit adjustment fund, do we know yet what proportion of that fund will be made available to Irish agriculture?

What is the Minister going to do to ensure we get an adequate sum from that adjustment fund? We met with representatives from IBEC and they told us there is a requirement for massive investment in ports and customs facilities to keep Ireland open. How much have we invested in those aspects and what is being done now in that regard?

Turning to the long-term impact on trade between Ireland and the UK, it has been suggested that low-interest loans need to have the interest rate reduced. The IFA has suggested that the rate be 3%. Moving on to the CAP, will the funding of farm schemes remain in place while the CAP transition takes place? Will a new GLAS scheme be rolled out? There is uncertainty about that scheme until the new CAP scheme begins. Will the roll-out of GLAS impact the REPS?

What work is being done to ensure that farmers do not lose out due to shortfalls under Pillars 1 and 2, especially in the context of the unspent funds? Is it possible to target farmers with those unspent moneys? Deputy Fitzmaurice raised the matter of the vulnerable sectors. I refer to suckler and sheep farming especially. Those areas need higher direct payments to help them because they are being hit hard, and it is the same with tillage farmers.

Turning to testing in meat factories, that must be a priority, especially given the rising figures for Covid-19 cases. I do not take any great credit for this, but we found out about testing being suspended in factories previously. There should be no suspension of testing while the numbers of cases of Covid-19 are going up. To ensure that testing continues, it must be carried out by the HSE or the HSA and not by the factories. It was an absolute disgrace that there was a break of almost two weeks in testing in factories at a time when we all knew that there were massive clusters occurring. We hope that does not come back to haunt us and that the current rise did not originate in those factories. I ask the Minister to make some commitment that in future testing will no longer be undertaken by the factories themselves but that it will be done by a State body, such as the HSE or the HSA.