Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I thought a contribution should be without interruption.

The Minister says capping is not a major issue for Ireland but I remember all of those opposite giving out about a few senior people in this country getting a lot of money. It was not a lot of money but those opposite said it was an example, that it set down a marker to the type of society we wanted. I cannot understand why the Minister believed that applied to the public service - which, rightly, it does - and that it does not apply to those in receipt of agriculture funding from the public purse. Irrespective of how much actual financial saving it makes, it sends a very good signal to Irish society of an equalisation of our society, of going back to the philosophy that my party espoused in 1932 when it said that nobody was worth more than £1,000 a year in the money of the day.

In my view, to put a cap on the payment would send a very important signal that payments out of the State coffers are for those who need them. I am very surprised, as a consequence, at the Minister's initial reaction to the payments to small-scale farmers. The Commission had proposed a scheme directed at small-scale farmers. The Minister stated that his initial reaction was that the scheme needed to be discretionary for member states to apply. I read this as being a code for the Minister saying if this is introduced, he wants to be able to opt out. I think this says much about the philosophy of the Minister's party and the farmers he is trying to support.

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