Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

——but the new manager announced he had read the plan, was happy with it and would implement it to the letter of the law. As has already been said, I appreciate the understanding of the Minister of State, Deputy Browne. He may tell us he is sympathetic but unless this is included in legislation to take account of our real anxieties, examples of which I have seen in operation, it is totally unacceptable. It is also unacceptable that a wife and children, who may have nothing to do with the situation other than living on the farm but who are dependent on that EU payment for their bread and butter, can find themselves without any money because of a law passed in this House. There must be a clear rider included in the Bill if we are to allow this paragraph to remain in it. Such a rider must clarify how negotiations shall take place and how repayments can be made over a period. We have no objections to that because we all accept that the arrears must be paid. However, it is unacceptable that a person would find his total year's income has been taken from him by the State.

Can the Minister of State imagine what he would say if this provision came from one of the major banks? They would not even dream of it but would enter into some form of negotiations to get their payments over a period.

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