Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Farmers and the farming community have been among the unsung heroes of the pandemic. One of the real worries we had at the start of the pandemic was distribution, supply and getting food into shops, onto tables and into and out of the island. Between the farming sector, our hauliers and our logistics industry, we made sure this was never a problem.

We appreciate their role in that, not only in making sure we had solid food supply in Ireland but making sure other parts of the world and Europe were also well fed. The Deputy will be aware that in the past year we have put in place about €100 million of grants for beef farmers, which have helped. The future growth loan scheme is being expanded and the Covid loan scheme, which will be launched at the end of August, will also be open to farmers, giving them low-cost finance to help with cash flow. We have also brought in changes to tax laws to allow people who make a loss this year to claim back some of the income tax they paid last year, which will be helpful in some circumstances.

On the Deputy's point about suckler cows, I do not think that was a commitment in my party's manifesto. It may have been in the Fianna Fáil manifesto. Our manifesto had something about sheep but I do not think we had a specific commitment on sucklers. I will double-check that but I think the Deputy is mistaken.

The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, is responsible for forestry and she will work hard on it in the period ahead. We are at an unusual stage in Ireland where it is almost impossible to plant or fell a tree for various reasons related to licences. We need to get that sorted out. I understand it largely relates to legal issues.

It is envisaged that GLAS will continue until a new scheme is up and running. There has been no formal decision on that but it is envisaged that it will continue until the new CAP starts or in the transition period. In the next couple of months, we will be working on getting REPS plus or REPS 2 up and running, which I know farmers will welcome. We will use proceeds from the carbon tax to set up a new REPS scheme which farmers will be able to avail of to make changes that will be beneficial for the environment and farm incomes.

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