Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister has said that giving farmers relief in respect of the increased cost of fertilisers caused by tariffs "does not have widespread support" in Europe. This is one of many serious issues for Irish agriculture at present. What steps are being taken by the Minister to deal with those issues? It looks to me that something is being done this year, but what has been happening in the last number of years as this problem has been growing? As I have said, many farmers are struggling greatly. I would like the Minister to elaborate on the technical issue that is holding up the making of GLAS payments to 5,000 farmers. I mentioned 8,000 GLAS farmers earlier because that was the figure a number of weeks ago. If someone in Schull has a technical issue, he or she will get a man to sort it out within half an hour. I cannot understand why it seems to take three months for such issues to be sorted out in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Is a belt of a hammer needed to sort it out? It sure as hell is not being sorted out at present.

We had a vote on a compensation programme for grain farmers here. The Minister should remember that his Government did everything possible to stop the grain farmers from getting compensation. The Government lost that vote so why have the farmers not yet got their compensation? The people, through this Dáil, voted against the act of not giving that compensation.

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