Mr. John Enright:

I will start off and then hand over to Ms Mary Buckley. It is crucial for farmers to have access to land. Mr. Eddie Downey covered much of the land leasing issue. An elderly farmer can lease land to a stranger and tax relief on land leasing can be secured, but that farmer cannot lease land to his son, daughter or nephew. It is important to get that issue addressed.

Another important issue is land mobility, the transferring of land to the younger generation. It is heart-breaking for a young farmer, or a middle aged farmer like myself, to be looking out across the field at land that is not farmed to its maximum or anywhere near it, while other farmers are farming their land to its potential. We must encourage a greater level of land leasing. We must also get an extension of stamp duty relief for young farmers in terms of land mobility. Facing a bill of €10,000 or €15,000 when young farmers are starting off knocks them back straight away. In terms of land mobility, if farmers do not have the land, they do not have anything. Another important issue is land consolidation. If one has 40 acres, one can sell that land and buy a home, but one cannot sell two bits of land and move to a better place that would help everybody environmentally in terms of the carbon footprint

On the pay and file date issue, as Mr. Eddie Downey said, farmers cannot pay before the pay date. Towards the end of the year dairy farmers have paid off all their bills. From talking to accountants, they say it will be legitimately impossible to have it ready any sooner. They are battling as it is and if we try to move back the date, bearing in mind that we are approaching the traditional two-week holiday period, accountants who have, say, 200 clients, might have to drop 10% of them to be able to logistically get the books right.

There are a few other points that Ms Mary Buckley wishes to address.