Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Yes. Applicants who came in under the beef sector would not have been included. That is where the high number of applications that were refused came from. I would imagine that will be one of the areas that will grow more in the next Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, but we are growing from a low base.

Deputy Stanley asked about renewable energy. I would make two comments in reply. Under the targeted agricultural modernisation schemes, we are funding solar panels for farmers. That was a late addition to the scheme as an acknowledgement that this is an important part of the sector and a role it can play. It is interesting to see that that initiative has been seized by others to bolt additional supports onto it to further incentive it for farmers who avail of that grant.

In the current Ag-Climatise public consultation document, and this is not to do with the Supplementary Estimate, there is a sector looking at other areas of renewables that might be appropriate for farm involvement, particularly in the area of anaerobic digestion, for example.

Deputy Penrose made the point about young farmers expanding in the context of the beef exceptional aid measure scheme, BEAM. The difficulty is that there was no getting away from the conditionality attached to that in terms of funding for the control of horses.

He also raised the issue of transitional arrangements. I do not know whether the Chairman wants me to take that in the context of the CAP generally-----