Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad the Deputy asked that question. We actually prioritise in favour of the small farmer in the new beef data transfer scheme we are introducing. We have said that farmers who enter the scheme will receive a payment of €20 per cow for the first 20 in their herd. It is the bigger farmers, who may have from 40 to 80 cattle, for example, who are losing out. They would have been getting strong financial support under the suckler cow welfare scheme. We deliberately prioritised the smaller farmers.

We are asking the smaller farmers to do a lot less now than they were asked to do before. What is actually happening is the opposite to what the Deputy is suggesting. We are spending €10 million, carried over from last year, on calves that were born in the second half of last year. The new €10 million scheme is targeting the first 20 cows. The average size of a suckler herd is 15 cows. The average herd size in the suckler cow welfare scheme is 18. Therefore, anyone with a herd of average size, or lower, will not lose out dramatically at all.

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