Dr. Stan Lalor:

Interest has built up across the year and there is huge momentum. There have been a couple of sequential announcements about increased payment rates to farmers that can potentially be got as part of the scheme, which has had a huge impact on increasing interest. We have seen that with the much larger attendance that we observed at the series of organic farm events that took place during the year. The most recent event took place in September where over 1,000 people attended a joint event by Teagasc and Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine that took place in County Tipperary. There has been a very high level of interest shown, compared with what we have previously seen, in tranches of organics with regard to the November and December application period.

Deputy Browne mentioned potential barriers that prevent farmers from entering the scheme, in particular animal housing.