Mr. Dermot Kelleher:

To answer Deputy Fitzmaurice, I did not know about this until I spoke to him about a month ago in a hostelry across the road. It looks like an attack on rural Ireland by stealth. There are so many things coming down the pike, attacking rural Ireland. It seems to me that there are people attacking rural Ireland who do not understand. It is grand to say it is peaty soils. There is silage being cut in place that could have been a bog three generations ago but now it is silage ground and is the best of ground. Where is the definition going to come in? How many farmers are going to be closed down? As for the farm organisations in Europe, Mr. Eddie Punch has been in contact with our colleagues in Europe. This thing cannot be let go through.

It is scandalous that we have a Minister who went out gung-ho and accepted this. He never spoken to us as a farm organisation. To my knowledge, the Minister has had no contact with the stakeholders. That is absolutely shocking given the implications for this country. There is €14 billion for administration but the farmers will do it voluntarily.

Honestly, this whole thing is crazy.