Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Three people came to see me. Two of them were over 70 years of age and one was over 80 and all of them had medical problems. The over 80 year old has very serious medical problems, details of which were provided with the application for derogation. The derogation was refused and there is now an appeal. He said he seems to have been penalised for having been born on, and inheriting, a hill farm. He said he has also been penalised for being old and ill. Surely the disadvantaged payment is just that - a payment to compensate for farming on poor land.

Will the Minister justify why this decision, which has a disproportionate impact on those living on the hills and mountains, was made? I could go on and give examples of refusals of active farmers who had REPS plans, which limited the amount of stock. One cannot be at the ceiling on a hill farm because if one goes over the ceiling, the Department penalises one for overstocking and takes all the grants away. In the case of farmers farming to an AEOS plan or a REPS plan, what tolerance is there under the ceiling so they still qualify for the DAS and the AEOS? What is the tolerance, because there does not appear to be one?

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