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

It is an ongoing conversation in the Department. Many farmers have said to me that they only want to be paid once but they would like to go into two discussion groups if possible because they want to make sure they are plugged into the latest knowledge on sheep as well as beef. This is not an unreasonable request. At present we are figuring out how to accommodate this with regard to paying the advisers and facilitators if farmers turn up who are not being paid for that discussion group. What is interesting is the appetite to be in discussion groups and the fact that farmers want to be in more than one because they have more than one operation and are asking how this can be facilitated. It is not necessarily about being paid for both; it is about getting the knowledge from both, and we are trying to facilitate this. It is a priority at present because we will roll out more discussion groups later in the autumn.

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