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

Farmers do not have to get local authorities to examine anything. Local authorities are involved in approval for the Red Cross scheme, which is a separate scheme. Farmers have to fill in a self-declaration form detailing the number of silage bales in the field they have lost or the amount of nuts or feed in a shed that was lost. We will send somebody out to verify it, which will be a straightforward process. The reason we set tomorrow as the deadline is that we want to get payments out quickly. I want to get cash to farmers within the next few weeks, rather than having a long period for applications. My only motivation is to try to turn it around quickly so farmers can get money to replace lost fodder if they need to.

There is plenty of fodder in the country, given that we had a very good grass growing season last year. Fodder is not particularly expensive relative to previous years when we have had fodder problems. As long as we give full market value for fodder that was lost, farmers will have the option of buying fodder in if they need it. If there is significant demand for an extension of the scheme for genuine reasons, of course we will consider it. I am not looking to exclude anybody.

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