Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The farm assist scheme is absolutely essential. There are farmers who benefit from it and need it to put bread on the table.

I am absolutely committed to the scheme.

The Deputy is referring to a particular cohort of farmers who were in the scheme from 1999 to 2007 and I take his point. I am very new in this job but I would be happy to sit down with the Deputy and try to find some resolution. As he said, the number of farmers involved is not huge and I agree that they did not realise they had to make these payments. Some of them have visited my office. They did not have to pay tax so they may not have had an accountant to help them to send in returns and make contributions. I accept the Deputy's point. It would be useful if we could meet and examine the matter with my officials.

See this speech in context