Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I welcome Mr. Lorcán O'Toole, Mr. David Scallan and Mr. Seán Doris whose presentations were very interesting. I first met Mr. Lorcán O'Toole when he was setting up Golden Eagle Trust Limited. I also met Teagasc in the Boleybrack Mountain area and have a huge interest in the topic.

There are many farmers who were in REPS and miss the payment of €7,000 or €8,000. We must encourage the young people to get involved. Otherwise no farming will take place in these places as the people will emigrate to where there is money to be made. If a sentiment such as that were taken back it would be good. Representatives from the Burren appeared before the committee a couple of weeks ago. They talked about the bottom-up approach where farmers would be encouraged to get involved and given incentives to bring them along. The incentives are important for young people. All the areas have been covered by my colleagues. I would be very supportive of the initiative.