Mr. Colm O'Donnell:

I thank the Chairman and Senator Daly. The Senator, in his overview, may be right about a simpler CAP. He mentioned the word "subsidiarity", which is one of the key planks of this reform. On the other hand, we heard some stakeholders here calling for income tests and outputs per hectare. This will put an excessive administration burden on the Department. This is unacceptable. We cannot allow a situation to develop where farmers who own or are renting land or aspire, as citizens of the EU, to carry out an agricultural activity on the agricultural areas they are holding are not supported. That is a right they should be able to exercise. Imagine people would not be supported from CAP because they must show they are a genuine farmer. I guarantee the committee that I am a genuine farmer. My payments at the start of the current reform were €50 per hectare because my quota was frozen during the reference years due to the commonage framework plans. That is a long history lesson, which I will not go into now. I consider myself to be a genuine farmer.

To respond to Deputy Carthy on the issue of defining a genuine farmer, we cannot exclude part-time farmers in the regulations. Part-time farmers have a God-given right, the same as anybody else, to be thought of and referred to as a genuine farmer. We put forward a definition of what that should be to the Department and I hope the definition adopted will be inclusive.

By the way, we are not supportive of the long-term leasing of entitlements. Carrying out an agricultural activity on the agricultural areas of the holding at the disposal of the farmer within a two-year period is our position on the definition of a genuine farmer. The leasing of entitlements is not an agricultural activity. That is our position.

I will hand over to my colleague, Mr. Joyce, who has a few comments to make in this regard.