Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"notes:

the introduction of an extensive farm waste management scheme to facilitate Ireland's compliance with the nitrates directive and to assist farmers meet the obligations under the directive;

the extraordinary success of the scheme, with over 42,000 approvals issued to date;

the unique attractiveness of the scheme, which provides a standard grant-rate of60%, with a 70% grant rate in counties Cavan, Monaghan, Leitrim and Donegal;

the payment by the Department of almost €330 million in grant-aid to thousands of Irish farmers in 2007 and 2008 to date;

the agreement of Dáil Éireann to a Supplementary Estimate for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of €195 million in additional funding for the scheme in 2008;

the extension granted to Ireland by the European Commission on an exceptional basis, until 31 December 2008, for the completion of work under the farm waste management scheme which acknowledged the specific situation in Ireland; and

the commitment of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food that all projects completed in accordance with the terms and conditions of the scheme by 31 December 2008 will be grant-aided;

acknowledges:

that the 31 December 2008 deadline for the completion of the work and the submission of the relevant documentation has been explicitly stated on a number of occasions since March 2006 to all those holding an approval from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to proceed under the scheme; and

the decision of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to write to all approval holders clarifying those discrete elements of work which will be grant-aided in the event that the farmer, for whatever reason, decides not to proceed with the entire project for which s/he was approved;

urges all farmers holding a valid approval and who have not yet completed their work to:

complete the work for which they have approval;

consider completing discrete units of work, for which they will be grant-aided, in accordance with the clarification provided by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food; and

note that the deadline date of 31 December 2008 will not be changed."

I wish to share time with Deputies Johnny Brady, Margaret Conlon, Thomas Byrne and Noel Treacy.

See this speech in context