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

First, the letter of comfort is a practical measure that will enable me to approach the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to have schemes opened and to commit to payment of moneys in that regard. It is not ideal but it is a solution that allows us to get schemes open, which is what farmers want. While I would rather that at this stage we had a full approval process for our RDP, the Commission, the Government and the Department are satisfied that a letter of comfort will provide the necessary level of financial and legal cover that we need to be able to get schemes open.

Second, the Deputy will be aware that payments under Pillar I and the budget for the CAP have been maintained at more or less the same level as previously but they are not index linked. In other words, they will not increase every year with inflation. From a lobbying point of view, during the process of agreement of the rural development programme and Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, farmers were clear that what they wanted was no less in actual terms than they got the last time. That is what was achieved.

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