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

I will try to address some of the questions, queries and comments made. On a general point, we are trying to introduce a scheme in the case of GLAS and qualification criteria for a single farm payment that is as flexible as possible and can adapt to different types of farming in different parts of the country. To say that, for whatever reason, such as from where I come, I do not understand commonage farming is not true because I have spoken to a lot of commonage farmers in regard to this. A team of people is putting together these proposals. I do not sit down at my desk and write them. I stand over them because I am the boss, but people from the west, the north west, the south west, the midlands and everywhere else sit around a table. They try to understand and anticipate the problems and pressures affecting farmers and make sure we can bring as many farmers as possible into the schemes, while at the same time being consistent with the rules.

I probably should not have interrupted Deputy Ó Cuív as much as I did, but I do not want to be characterised as something I am not. We have compromised and amended proposals because of the public consultation process. We have spoken to people at lengthy meetings to try to understand specific problems and tailor solutions to solve them. We are still trying to do that in public meetings around the country in various places from Wicklow to Donegal, Galway, west Cork, Kerry, Mayo and so on. We will continue that process. I am not in the business of locking anybody out of anything if we can accommodate him or her.

There are historical traditions in terms of how commonage areas are farmed and shareholders interact, and they share the burden differently in terms of who does what. That is why we have said there will be flexibility for some farmers who have a lot more stock than others per hectare or commonage. There is, in our view, a requirement that farmers have to be making some agricultural contribution to commonage in order to qualify as a farmer on that piece of land. For a piece of land to be eligible, the person claiming payment on it has to show he or she is participating in an agricultural practice.

See this speech in context