Ms Alice Doyle:

We are agree with a lot of what the Senator said. He asked for an example as to why it is so difficult for farmers to apply for farm assist. I will give an example. When an inspector comes out to talk to the farmer, the inspector looks for a lot of information that a person does not have to provide if he or she goes into the social welfare office looking for an unemployment benefit or a jobseekers' benefit. An example is proof of tenure, that is, proof that you own the farm. Not every farmer is able to pull that out of the box or out of the drawer immediately. A farmer is asked to give his last year of accounts and must go back into the accounts. Not every farmer goes to an accountant to do his or her accounts. Some do them themselves and they are allowed to do so. However, if a farmer does go to an accountant to get his or her accounts drawn up, they need them in a hurry. Farmers are asked to provide receipts for everything they have there and then and sometimes those receipts are sitting in the accountants office. Sometimes they have to go and get them because they are not available. The length of time that it takes to get all this information together can lead to a long period of time before the inspector can come back and decide if the farmer is eligible or not. Sometimes, the crisis may be almost over by the time the inspector can get back to the farmer with that or before the farmer can provide the necessary information.

If I look for jobseekers' allowance in the morning, I do not have to prove I own a house or any of those kind of things. That makes it a lot easier. I only have to prove that I do not have any money or an income, whereas the farmer is asked to provide a lot of material that is not readily available and takes a long period of time to get and therefore, the crisis is often averted by the time that happens.

Mr. Buckley wishes to come in on one other issue.