Mr. Bill Callanan:

On falling under CAP, that is the assumption. This may allude, in particular, to whether certain regulations apply to a farmer who is not applying under the Common Agricultural Policy. That would be something like the nitrates regulation, for example. I want to be clear with everybody.

A measure like the nitrates regulations is national legislation. It is policed generally through compliance with the Common Agricultural Policy and local authority inspections. All farmers, however, are subject to it irrespective of whether they apply under the Common Agricultural Policy. The nitrates action programme is the principle control mechanism for the use of nitrogens etc. and sets limits, storage requirements and the stock carrying capacity on land.

I do not have a figure for how many farmers work outside the Common Agricultural Policy but I would suggest that it is quite small. In terms of the suggestion that there are large farmers who have deliberately avoided the requirements of the Common Agricultural Policy and the additional conditionality that accompanies, I think that there is a handful at most. I have heard of one case but I want to make clear that they are still subject to the rules and regulations of the nitrates action programme.