Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is exceptionally important that the Minister of State talk to the Tánaiste about the deadline being imposed on farmers for the return of the forms. For example, they are being asked for the first time for a total list of all livestock sold and bought over the last year, bank statements for the last 12 months and also final subsidy tallies from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, which do not come out until February. Naturally, many farmers have been left feeling they have been asked to do something with which it will be extremely difficult to comply. That is on top of the fact that they feel they are constantly getting a message from the Government that it would prefer if they were not availing of the farm assist scheme, which it would like to remove entirely.

As I pointed out, the removal of the income disregard with the change from 70% to 100% has meant that many farm families struggle now to make a living of any description on the family farm. They have to work day in and day out. In some cases, they have to work 50 or 60 hours per week in order to make an income, only to have every euro they make deducted from their social welfare payments, payments that would bring them up to what they would get on unemployment assistance if they were not making any income on the farm at all. It is a scandalous cut that the Government has introduced and its impact is that 41% of farm families have experienced a reduction in their farm assist payments. The cut must be reversed. I ask the Minister of State to go back and discuss it with his Department. It is certainly a commitment my party is making. It is something on which the Department must carry out an impact assessment. Simply put, the Government and, in particular, the Tánaiste do not realise the impact of this cut on so many families.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue and I urge the Minister of State to ensure that all families who have received application forms are written to and given appropriate time to allow them to respond.

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