Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Initially, when the scheme came in, if you had €100 a week in farm income, that is, assessed farm income after the means test with farm assist, when you went for the scheme, that was left to you and you got the full amount of money for the work you did, the same as the person working beside you. That is as simple as it was. Then they made a change and if you had €100 assessed means against you going on the scheme, the net gain was only €27 whereas in the first case you got the €127. It is still not mega-beans but it is okay for 19.5 hours, and you got an A-class stamp as well. That was the attraction - an A-class contribution. That is the difference. One worked; the other did not. The numbers have gone down. We cannot get them.