Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Sinn Fein)
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I thank Mr. Healy for his presentation. We had a pretty startling presentation made to us by the European Court of Auditors earlier this year to a joint committee session. One of the things that stood out for me and for everybody was that since 2007, one in three young farmers under the age of 44 in Ireland have left the land. That is not the same experience in every European country but they definitely acknowledged at European level that there is a huge failing on this. If the current situation is looked at, about 6.3% of farmers overall are under the age of 35 today. That is a pretty startling statistic. I would like to get some feedback. It is a critical period now, we are in the period before the next Common Agricultural Policy and there are huge implications for Ireland but it is an opportunity, I would have thought, to address that issue. This is one of the pillars where the European institutions have demonstrated with empirical evidence that what they are doing is utterly failing to bring young people into farming, which is crucial for our future and anybody who attends a mart can see the age profile of farmers. It is plain to see what is happening. Mr. Healy's proposals are radical, therefore, but they reflect the necessity for change.

One thing that has been pointed out to me is the way that the basic payment scheme - previously known as the single farm payment – is based on historical farming. There is an issue whereby young farmers have to lease land. It is deeply unfair. The whole game is stacked against the person entering. I am keen to get a sense of this of this from Macra Na Feirme. I appreciate the presentation today was limited given the terms of reference of the deputation but I am keen to get a view from the organisation on the auditor's report. What four or five themes do we need to consider as legislators and Members of the Oireachtas with regard to how Ireland shapes the next round of the Common Agricultural Policy? One farmer in three under the age of 44 years has gone in the past ten years. How do we reverse that in the coming ten years? I imagine Macra Na Feirme is in the middle of that and it has been a major part of the presentation today.