Mr. Vincent Roddy:

Okay, fair point because I misunderstood that.

I just struggle with that. I am glad we got clarity that even if it is a law, the farmers can be supported. We have to remember the Rural Environment Protection Scheme, REPS 4, which has been mentioned a number of times here. Farmers are always wary about this. REPS 4 was pulled, because an bord snip nua made the decision to do so. I remember exactly what was said. They said that there had been an agri-environmental scheme in place for eight years at that stage so farmers by now should know how to farm in an agri-environmental manner. That was the basis for the decision. There was no recognition of the financial hardship it was going to create so that was a big problem.

I am very happy that people have got the issue of trust on what has happened previously with the designations because we really have to get to the core of that issue before any farmer will trust anyone to move on.