Christy O'Sullivan (Cork South West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion, This farm waste management scheme has been an outstanding success, with 46,000 completed applications received by the end of June 2007 deadline. To date, more than 42,000 approvals have issued to farmers and some 30,000 farmers have indicated they have commenced work.

Last year, €113.8 million was paid in grant aid and, to date, €212 million has been paid this year, while the Dáil has approved a Supplementary Estimate to provide an additional €195 million in grant aid for this year, bringing it to a total spend on the scheme of approximately €377 million. In addition, the 2009 Estimates, published on Thursday, provide a further €125 million to be paid next year. This will bring total expenditure in grant aid between 2007 and 2009 to well in excess of €615 million. This is an enormous commitment by the Government to Irish agriculture. Farmers are also investing hundreds of millions as a statement of their confidence in their own industry and who knows the industry better than the farmers.

There is absolutely no truth in the suggestions and rumours that farmers participating in the scheme will be unable to reclaim VAT on their costs. The Department's experience of similar on-farm investment schemes suggest that approximately 80% of those with approval will proceed with the work. Thus, there is no basis to the Opposition's claims that the 31 December deadline will deny up to 12,000 farmers the opportunity to avail of the scheme.

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