Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

It is clear from the earlier reply to Deputy Michael Creed that the Minister will not budge on this issue. Today, a recently widowed lady contacted me whose son wishes to take over the family farm holding. He would have been an ideal applicant for these two schemes. However, as they were going through a process of grant of probate, he was not in a position to send his application before 14 October. The legal instrument went against him and took longer than anticipated. Will the Minister allow for some degree of discretion and fairness for those who were in the process of applying? On 14 October the two schemes were cut down in one fell swoop without any notice period. That did not allow individuals, such as those I have just mentioned, to have some fairness in submitting their applications. If they had some notice, they might have come into the scheme. Cutting the schemes off on 14 October was the wrong way to go about it. Will the Minister revisit his decisions for the sake of equity and fairness?

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