Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and commend him and his team, including the Ministers of State, Senator Hackett and Deputy Heydon, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, on the new CAP programme. It appears from the early signs that it is very positive and will support farming in our region in particular.

On the extra €2.9 billion, how will the Minister ensure this money gets down to the farm table? There is so much red tape involved in schemes that people will not engage with them. This is particularly the case for hill and sheep farmers, which is an ageing sector. We need to encourage people to engage. In the context of the role of the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, sheep and hill farmers were the original biodiversity farmers, long before the REPS and other schemes. As I said to the Minister last week at Balla mart, hill farming in Mayo goes back 5,000 years.

They were the guardians of the environment and they continue to be. Unless we keep them on sustainably on the hills, that support and guardianship will be gone. This CAP plan, for many, may be the last chance saloon. We want to ensure that it will get right down to them with as little red tape as possible and that it will be easy to apply for.

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