Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

Regarding the points made about the CAP and how we support farmers, simplification is very important. I, too, was a child who was threatened, around October time, with Santa not coming, but he always came in December. We are delivering €2 billion of supports to farmers every year and that is not simple. This money comes with conditionality. It is money that needs to be audited. We need to be able to account for it being spent as it is supposed to be spent and the type of deals we sign up to. I understand that creates a huge bureaucracy and frustration. It is my job to try to make sure that in understanding the bureaucracy and frustration for the farmer we make it as easy as possible to get the money to farmers. This supports them in the work they do producing top quality food and also in the efforts they are making regarding environmental sustainability, improving water quality, etc. We have huge ambition in the area of water quality.