Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It would serve the Minister well to focus on his own record rather than take comfort from policies that might have happened in the past, from which we should be learning. The Minister should refrain from citing what happened ten years ago under previous Administrations to justify what he is doing now. We need to look at what is on the table. According to the statistics from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine there was an underspend of €78 million last year across various sections of his Department's budget. The year before that the underspend was €106 million after the reallocation of funds to other programmes under the Revised Estimates process. The capacity is there but the will is not. I do not propose to go into the GLAS statistics, but as the Minister is aware, €1.4 billion was promised but only €1 billion is being delivered, which is a shortfall of €400 million.

Before he puts the amendment to the proposed rural development programme to Europe, the Minister should consult his officials on the underspend in his Department with a view to an additional €25 million being allocated to the areas of natural constraint scheme and thus deliver increased income this year to farm families.

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