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

I heartily welcome the Minister's decision to provide money for farm safety. It would be churlish of me not to recognise what he has done. If the measure results in a few lives being saved, it will be money well spent. Anyone with experience of farming or industry knows that many practical steps can be taken to improve safety. While this is difficult on farms because of the many moving vehicles and so forth, not all accidents are caused by moving parts and much can be done to make farms safer. While I welcome the introduction of a grant for this purpose, I hope it is easy to access and covers the different types of farming.

I was interested in the Minister's comments on the beef data and genomics programme. He will appreciate that I take the view that insufficient funding has been provided for the scheme, although I recognise that he has come a little way. I also agree with his decision to pay an additional sum for the first ten animals in each applicant herd. I am not sure that participation rates will reach the desired level of 70% or 80%. The scheme is a small step in the right direction.

I will level a general criticism about a development that has been accentuated under this Government. I am sure the Ceann Comhairle recalls the time when detailed Estimates were published long before the budget and then adjusted on budget day. They were not as detailed as the Revised Estimates that were published subsequently. While the previous Government changed this practice, a detailed Estimate continued to be provided on budget day. Instead of greater openness and transparency, however, what we have in the budget is an Estimate for the Department that amounts to four lines. It is difficult to ascertain the exact position from four lines of figures. Unfortunately, I do not have time to ask the many questions I have as to how exactly the various changes came about. It is interesting to note, for example, that the Estimate for the Department, as published, is roughly €767,239,000, which is a reduction of 20% on the previous year. The reason for this decline is the massive increase in appropriations-in-aid, which presumably refer to European funding. This means Exchequer funding next year will be 20% lower than for this year. While I have no doubt there is an explanation for this, Deputies have not been given one.

The gross Vote for the Department is 2% higher than last year. I assume this increase is partly explained by the beef data and genomics scheme, which is more expensive than the similar scheme in place this year. Unfortunately, however, I can only guess the reasons for the increase. I ask the Minister to help Deputies on this side by taking a transparent and open approach and providing a breakdown of the figures along the lines of that which appears in the Revised Estimates. Somebody has compiled all the figures and the Minister will have seen all the information. I do not understand the reason for secrecy, especially in view of the modern idea that the Opposition should be included in decision making in order that they can give a reasonable response.

If we had a breakdown of the overall Vote for the Department, we could identify what allocation is being made to the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. The Minister informed the House of the allocation for the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, and the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, namely, €52 million and €70 million, respectively, but did not provide a figure for GLAS.

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