Mr. Michael Biggins:

On the bridging payment we proposed to the Department that it roll over the people who were in GLAS 3. This would amount to 12,000 farmers and it would take the heat out of it. The Department said this was not achievable. There is no problem with people qualifying to get onto the scheme. The biggest problem is getting access to a planner and getting them in the door. There is a huge logjam. I suggest the way to relieve this is for the Department to make a clear statement that anybody applying in the fourth quarter of next year who meets the criteria will get an upfront payment. This would take the heat out of the situation. Nobody would be falling out with planners. What it is trying to achieve at present is not possible even if it were extended for the month of December and it will need to do this to make any inroads.

I have nothing against Bord Bia. The problem is that a huge number of suckler farmers do not sell finished animals. They would not traditionally be in Bord Bia. The scheme is forcing them to sign up to Bord Bia even though they will not see one cent from selling finished animals. No one has an agenda against Bord Bia other than it is introducing a layer of bureaucracy to a farm that was not required previously. It serves no meaningful purpose other than that Bord Bia can say there are more farms in the scheme. It is putting pressure on those farmers.

I would like to touch briefly on the TAMS costings. Deputy Fitzmaurice asked a question earlier. It is a huge problem. The grant aid bears no relation to where the costs are. The costings in the current tranche were reference costs looked at last November. They were implemented in the tranche that opened in April. They gave a 5% to 15% increase on various items. Deputy Fitzmaurice is right about the price of concrete. In my area it increased from €85 per cubic metre to almost €135 per cubic metre for 40 newton concrete. This is forcing people into building sub-rate buildings because it is cheaper not to meet the TAMS specification.