Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)
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Thank you, Chairman. I have been called the incorrect name at home.

It has often happened in the local papers too.

I thank Mr. Moran for his presentation and thank his colleagues for attending today. The most important thing is that the budget is agreed. After that there will be discussions regarding how the money will be distributed, but getting agreement on the budget is vitally important. It is also important that young farmers are looked after, but we must not forget those farmers who are not so young and who have farmed since the last agreement without any single payment. We meet such farmers regularly at meetings and must not forget that they did not gain from the last agreement. There are some farmers who built up very high entitlements in the past, sat back in their armchairs and did not farm. That must also be dealt with. Such farmers drew down their payments but did not farm to the extent that was expected of them.

It is important that pillar two is agreed and that we know what it is. I agree with my colleague, Senator O'Neill, on the need for a coupled payment in the future. Perhaps payments under the suckler cow scheme and the sheep scheme could be coupled in some way to encourage farmers in those sectors to continue farming. We should discourage people from building up payment entitlements and then not engaging in farming. Finally, it is important to know what is being done with regard to the reference year and what it is likely to be.