Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is welcome that there is a commitment to and movement on introducing the €25 million scheme to assist the sheep sector. It is very necessary because incomes in the sheep sector have been under pressure in recent years and we have also seen a reduction in flock numbers, something which needs to be arrested. The average income of a sheep farm family is just over €15,000, of which a very high proportion, not far off 100%, is made up of farm payments. Will the Minister elaborate further on the structure of the new scheme? It is crucial that the mistakes made with the beef data and genomics programme which was regarded by farmers as being particularly cumbersome, leading to a lower take-up than had been predicted, are not repeated. Will the Minister comment on the requests made to him by hill farmers, in particular, for a €5 top-up payment and the need for a single menu? Is this something he is considering and plans to introduce, particularly in the light of the fact that the sector has been much less profitable in recent years, particularly for hill sheep farmers?

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