Mr. Thomas Harty:

Regarding the fact that only 760 farmers have been impacted across 700 townlands, what we are saying that they have been financially impacted. As a result of the design of the current scheme, farmers get paid up to a maximum so if a farmer has 100 ha of land, the scheme maxes out at 30. For some of these farmers, while there is a loss in terms of what was designated land, it is not a financial loss to the farmer. People may have had tillage crops in the past, hence the loss of the land represents a financial loss. Over 2,000 individuals are farming those townlands and it will have a financial impact on approximately 760 farmers. With regard to those coming in, we estimate that the number is over 4,000 but history has shown us that not all farmers apply for the scheme. The number is approximately 4,000 but we are surprised that every year, certain farmers do not fulfil stocking obligations or do not apply for whatever reason so there is an element of estimation regarding what people will do next year.

We will have to come back to the Deputy about the percentage. I think the Deputy asked how many hectares are, in effect, not paid on due to the ceiling issue. The Deputy asked about hectares and eligibility due to scheme limits. Some of that is dependent on what the new scheme limits will be as in whether we carry over the 30 or 34 ha limits. As Mr. Dillon has already alluded to, in talking to the farm bodies about that, there is broad acceptance that there would be a cap of some sort. Some of those figures will depend on-----