Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. More than 18,000 farmers have been paid in full. Over 17,000 remain to be paid. The expenditure available to us this year will enable us to pay all the remaining 17,400 payment claims when they are processed. Of those a 40% payment will be made during the course of this calendar year, 40% of the remaining payment will be made in the first days of January 2010 and the remaining 20% in January 2011.

See this speech in context