Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the two Messrs O'Donnell, Colm and Henry, and also Mr. Joe Condon and Mr. John Cuddy. I thank them for their presentation. I acknowledge the work of their organisation since its inception. They have raised many important issues today and put their case very clearly.

I wish to touch on a couple of the points made, including farm inspections and appeals. These are an issue every year. This year in particular, unfortunately, farmers did not become aware that their land would be examined for digital mapping until they did not receive their payments. The way the Department deals with this is unacceptable. The delegates are asking a question that has been asked to me several times, that is, why the 70% payment is not paid out early in cases where there is a dispute, an over-claim or any other matter. It leaves farmers in very difficult circumstances without any prior warning. The delegates' proposal in this regard is very fair.

Let me touch upon a couple of other issues raised, particularly the issue of commonage. Could I have more detail on the organisation's experience regarding the uptake of the GLAS scheme by farmers with commonage? What percentage of commonage farmers are actually participating? Why is the figure so low? It should be a source of income for farmers on hill-type and commonage land.

A point was made on the ANC schemes. The delegation pointed out that the current payment should be weighted more in favour of hill farms. Are there figures for this? Has this been fleshed out? If so, could the delegates elaborate on it?

Overall some very good points have been made and some very fair questions have been posed. I suggest that the committee forward those questions and points to the Minister so he can return with a comprehensive response addressing them. We will try to achieve progress on this.