Mr. Tadhg Buckley:

I would make two points. In the past two weeks, the Department of agriculture wrote to 116,000 farmers. They got a letter relating to changes relating to nitrates rules. Every farmer who is farming has a herd number. Even if one is a tillage farmer, one has a so-called herd number even though it is a bit of an oxymoron. Obviously, there may be an issue in sharing that data across Departments but the Department of agriculture could certainly write to farmers to make them aware of the scheme.

As has been said, there is a need for a two-pronged approach. It is: awareness and simplification. They are both impacting use.

To put it in context, there are 75,000 suckler farmers in Ireland. A good share of them are part time and they have other income. Their average income, according to Teagasc, for the past three years was €9,200. There are clearly a lot of farmers who are entitled to at least apply and look to get it, and they are not doing so. The figures are stark when one looks, for instance, at the suckler farmers. Obviously, there are other low income sectors such as other livestock and sheep farmers. There are others in other sectors who have fallen on hard times. The point is when one looks at the numbers of farmers who are at the low-income level versus the participants, there is clearly something amiss.