Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State talked about 18 basic payment scheme applications. When one divides the number of hectares multiplied by 2.5 into the 18 applications, it shows how small the farms are and one sees how many people were affected by it. These people are trying to eke out a living, rear a family and do what people do in every other part of the country.

I know the Minister is going to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform but as was highlighted earlier, when it was at his back door it was sorted in five months. The difference in this case is that it happened in County Leitrim. In my opinion, people in Leitrim or any other county matter as much as anybody else. If it took five months to resolve it in County Donegal or six months to resolve it in Pollatomish, it should be in between the two in this case. It could even take seven months. This has been going on for a long time, however. It is dragging on.

In fairness, I see that something like 160,000 tonnes of peat needs to be moved. These people need clarity. They need to know where they are going.

I noted that at the end of his contribution, the Minister of State mentioned that BPS and areas of natural constraint, ANC, applications are separate from the compensation claim. Is the Minister of State saying that if people go in for the BPS and ANC schemes, they will be cleared for this year when the compensation claim comes? What is happening? I am trying to clarify what the Minister of State said in his last statement.

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