Joe Callanan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)

I am delighted the Opposition tabled this motion on agriculture, because it gives Members on the Government side an opportunity to let farmers know how good is their Minister for Agriculture and Food. Farmers know the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Coughlan, has represented and will represent them both in Europe and at home, in the best possible manner.

The past year has been an eventful time in agriculture. The introduction of the single payment in 2005 was a major milestone in the development of Irish agriculture. It was a massive undertaking by the Minister for Agriculture and Food and her Department and I congratulate her for a job well done. It also involved a considerable learning curve for Irish farmers. Much preparatory work was required in establishing a database of farmers' entitlements based on their farming activities in the reference years. It was necessary to put systems in place to invite and process applications for force majeure, new entrants, private contract clauses, consolidation of entitlements and the national reserve.

An important part of the process was the establishment of an independent appeals system to ensure farmers seeking a review of their circumstances could have their cases dealt with fairly and efficiently. I wish to provide Members with some sense of the many tasks which were undertaken to deliver the new scheme on target. Briefing sessions were held throughout the country on various elements of the scheme and information booklets were sent to all farm households. Farmers were informed of their individual entitlements and were supplied with pre-printed area aid details to assist them in making their 2005 single payment applications. In all, more than 140,000 applications were submitted in April and May 2005, ensuring a demanding processing effort was required by the Department of Agriculture and Food in the following months.

A massive effort went into ensuring, in the first instance, the delivery of the disadvantaged areas scheme, starting in September, when 85,500 farmers were paid almost €196 million. The current position is that some €233 million has been paid to more than 100,000 farmers. Payments under the single payment scheme commenced on 1 December. While many people thought that would not happen, it was the earliest date allowed under EU regulations.

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