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

This is populist stuff that the Deputy knows is not possible. There is no additional package for sheep farmers. What we are talking about is a fund provided by Europe of €500 million to support the dairy and pigmeat sectors because they have particular pricing problems this year.

The price of lamb has not collapsed this year. I know sheep farmers are under pressure, which is why we made a decision as part of the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, to decouple the sheep grassland scheme. In order to protect that €17 million or so, we decoupled it and added it directly to single farm payments to make sure they could hold on to it.

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