Bobby Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I am speaking in strong support of the Government's amendment to this motion both as a farmer and as the father of a young farmer. In recent years, the Government has invested very heavily and productively in developing the agriculture and the agri-food sectors in this country and this strategy has paid dividends to Irish farmers.

The budget has provided €1.803 billion for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. This money comes directly from the Irish taxpayer. The EU is the source of an additional €1.4 billion, so the total amount which will be spent on agriculture, fisheries and food is over €3.2 billion. This is substantial spending on this critically important sector of the economy and is only 2.56% less than funding in 2008.

We are all now acutely aware that we are living in very straitened and harsh times where we must cut our cloth to suit our measure. There is no easy way around this situation. We cannot afford to spend money we do not have at our disposal at this time and economies have to be achieved across every Department. The economic and financial reality is stark and an onus rests on all of us, in every area of economic activity, to exercise wisdom and restraint and above all, to live within our means. There is a multiplicity of demands on the public purse and it is the responsibility of the Government to ensure that our scarce resources are applied to greatest possible effect in the interests of the overall common good.

This is the same reality with which the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has had to deal. Against a national background of diminished public resources and economic uncertainty, the Minister has been forced to take shrewd and strategic choices to safeguard the greater long-term interests of farmers and the agri-food industry. He has had to identify and adjust his spending priorities while ensuring that the industry is adequately protected and supported. Our expectations must be lowered and kept in line with budget parameters. We all have to exercise a little patience. Limited resources mean difficult choices, therefore, the Minister has focused on measures that allow the industry to be maintained and to grow its productive capacity. The major schemes which facilitate the strategic development of the sector will continue. I believe this is a wise and prudent decision in the existing economic climate which, we all must acknowledge, is very difficult.

The Minister has stated publicly on more than one occasion that all the schemes and services within his Department's remit will be closely monitored closely throughout 2009 and the position will be subject to careful review. Some of the decisions which the Minister has had to take may be unpalatable for some in the short-term but he has said expressly on more than one occasion that he will look again at those decisions in the context of the Estimates for 2010. I welcome that.

REPS is a very positive initiative both for farmers and the environment. The farmer is the custodian of the land and the rural environment. Through REPS, farmers have become more conscious of the environment and the need to safeguard it. REPS has increased awareness and respect for the natural environment and has been instrumental in achieving improvements in farming methods and practices. Farmers must recognise that they have an important contribution to make to ensure that the environment is protected and, through the REPS programme, they can apply practical measures which are sympathetic to the environment and its proper conservation.

Last year farmers got a total of €311 million in funding under REPS and next year, 2009, the provision for REPS will be increased to €355 million. I am pleased that the Minister has recognised REPS as a highly valued scheme and has decided to protect it through a 17% increase in grant rates and by ensuring that the scheme continues to admit those farmers who wish to join REPS next year. It is worth pointing out that by the end of next year, €2.5 billion will have been received by tens of thousands of farmers in the previous ten years.

The farm waste management scheme is exceptionally generous. By the end of next year, the Government will have spent €700 million in on-farm investment since the scheme's inception in 2001. The Government has now committed extra financial resources with at least €615 million being paid between 2007-09. For this year alone, expenditure on the scheme will exceed €377 million, following the provision of an addition €195 million last October.

The new suckler cow scheme, which was agreed in partnership and is worth €250 million, will be honoured in full. With regard to the 2008 scheme, a premium of €80 per animal will also be paid, with €33 million to be paid out this year while a further €44 million has been provided in 2009 to pay the remaining claims of 2008. The balance of €173 million will then be paid to participating farmers over the remaining life of the scheme over the next four years. The amount of the premium will depend on the participation rate for the final four years of the scheme. I should like to see the scheme based on progressive payments and I would urge the Minister to look at that, with a certain number being paid the full rate, and then to have it divided afterwards.

It is worth bearing in mind that by the end of 2009, €2.3 billion will have been paid out to tens of thousands of farmers under the disadvantaged area scheme and the Department will be making payments of over €220.4 million under this scheme next year. This represents a reduction in overall funding of 14%. The Minister has had no choice but to reduce expenditure but he has said that the reductions will be implemented in a targeted manner. This will be achieved by reducing the maximum limit on which payments are made to 34 hectares and also by way of a small increase in the stocking density requirement. It is expected however, that the majority of farmers will not suffer any loss in their payments under this scheme. There are 102,000 participants in the scheme at present and 67,000 will experience no reduction in their payments. There will be no reductions whatsoever in payments on holdings up to 34 hectares.

The Common Agricultural Policy has been very generous to Irish farmers in the supports it has offered. We have received €41 billion in net receipts from Europe since we joined the EU and three quarters of all that money has gone to agriculture and rural development. Between 2007-13, a further €12.2 billion will go towards financial support for the operation of the single farm payment, REPS, on-farm investment, the disadvantaged area programme and so forth.

The Minister recently negotiated the CAP health check for this country and it will deliver €170 million to farmers over the next five years. This deal will mean €100 million worth of additional milk production and over three years and it will also mean €70 million worth of additional payments to farmers. Milk quotas will be increased by 1% annually for each of the next five years. The Minister will then consider the market situation so as to phase out the milk quota system smoothly when the quotas are finally abolished by 2015. The Minister has always been at pains to emphasise that he believes a soft landing is necessary in these circumstances. An abrupt ending of the system would necessarily cause a very sharp increase in production and a resulting sharp price decline.

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