Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)

That will be no problem.

The Minister for Finance has indicated he will consider on Committee Stage tax relief measures for farmers. I hope he will consider a number of issues, the first being the sugar compensation package due to farmers. We were told by the Government that the payments would begin in June, but the Minister for Agriculture and Food yesterday sang a different tune. She stated that it would depend on the legal case being taken by Greencore and that the payments could be made later in the year.

Currently, at least 80% of the sugar compensation package is liable to tax and the Department is awaiting clarification on the other 20%. It is possible that all of it will be liable to tax. I hope to see an amendment on Committee Stage to deal with the issue. Farmers got a bad deal in the distribution of the sugar compensation package, receiving one quarter of the available compensation, a far cry from the traditional 60% to 40% split on the beet crop return. Now that the Government has turned its back on the beet industry and giving farmers a fair breakdown of compensation, the least it can do is not penalise the compensation by taxing it. I hope the matter will be addressed.

It is a significant disappointment that there is no measure to address the €1,000 taken from retired farmers. Many such farmers have had a raw deal from the scheme because of the anomalies that exist. We all know about these and I will not go into them, but up to last March the Minister for Agriculture and Food consistently stated that it was impossible to give a top-up payment because the European Commission would not allow it. Last March, information was received from the Commission that it would allow a top-up from the Government, but the Minister kept that quiet until November, when a top-up was distributed.

If she had given it from 1 April, when the information became available to her, farmers who joined in the first scheme would have been entitled to an extra €1,166 and those involved in the second scheme would be entitled to an extra €875. The value of the pension has reduced dramatically because of the increases in the old age pension and the rising cost of living. The Minister had a golden opportunity, especially in light of such a low uptake of the farm retirement scheme in the past couple of years, to allow that top-up payment. The money was available within the Department of Agriculture and Food and it would not have had an impact on the Exchequer, but for some reason it was not given. The Minister, Deputy Coughlan, had a poor record on dealing with the vulnerable when she was in the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

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