Mr. Tom Canning:

As I said, 125,000 farmers applied for BISS this year; 64,400 applied through the private advisory service providers, 41,000 applied through our counterparts in Teagasc. I will make it very clear to the Deputy that we are not looking for our wages to be paid. We are simply looking for access to accurate, timely information, which we are getting to a large extent from the Department of agriculture through the MyAgFood system. However, we want to make sure that is consistently delivered.

We need to disseminate the latest information through the knowledge hub and through the training of our members to prepare them for the future changes to regulations, such as the changes on nitrates that will come into effect on 1 January. We are facing into a whole new CAP support system post 2027. On 31 December, CAP supports end and we will be in a new programme. We have to be able to help and advise the clients we are dealing with to be able to meet the challenges they face. There may be cuts in incomes and we have to look at a sustainable system in agriculture. Our primary job is to provide the best possible advice to achieve that.