Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

There is a bit of a tone of that from the Opposition this morning. There is very bad weather at the moment which is having an impact on farming as we all understand. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine is in close contact with the farming community and farming organisations to discuss the best way to deal with that. However, the Fianna Fáil Party suggestion to have a complete cessation of inspections is simply not possible. There is a legal requirement to have a minimum number of inspections so that payments will be made. Suspending inspections would mean the payments could not be made. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Marine has made arrangements to bring forward the single farm payment. The route suggested by Fianna Fáil would result in huge complications and in all probability the cessation of payments, which is something the Government will not countenance.

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