Margaret Murphy O'Mahony (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)
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I am not a member of this committee but I felt so strongly about the whole thing that I sought permission to attend. I welcome the farmers from west Cork who are present here or in the audiovisual room.

Much of what I will say has been said already but I would like to put on record that I feel strongly about it. I have a sense of fairness and the devaluation of land through no fault of the farmers is unacceptable. A scheme must be put in place to compensate these landowners. The EU has done this; not the farmers themselves. We all know how hard farmers work in west Cork and everywhere else and it is not fair that they are suffering as a result of this EU idea. A proper budget really must be put in place and I will work with my Fianna Fáil colleagues on this committee to put pressure on the Minister to deliver on this.