Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

My Department implements a broad range of schemes and services in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and food processing sectors. It is responsible for voted expenditure of some €1.9 billion in 2008 and also acts as paying agency in respect of EU funding for direct payments to farmers and market supports which total about €1.4 billion.

A high proportion of the Department's Vote relates to large demand-led schemes, for example, the REPS, the farm waste management scheme, the farm investment scheme, forestry, the less favoured areas scheme, grants for marketing and processing projects and the new suckler cow scheme, which together account for more than €1 billion in the Vote in 2008. Expenditure under these schemes is contingent on a variety of factors outside of the Department's control. These include farmer confidence, the availability of finance, the rate of completion of capital projects, weather and other factors.

The agencies under the Department's aegis — Teagasc, Bord Bia, BIM, the Marine Institute and the Sea Fisheries Protection Agency——

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