Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister knows that I have been raising this issue with him since his appointment and I acknowledge that each time he has indicated that he is committed to addressing this issue. However, it still has not been resolved and I would like to know where the resistance is or why we have had these delays.

In February 2021, he told me that he was "fully committed to addressing this issue in a way that is fair to this cohort of farmers under the next CAP". In May of that year, he stated: "The programme for Government contains a commitment to seek to resolve under the next CAP the issue of support for this category of farmers." However, by December 2021, which was a full year ago, the language had changed. The Minister then said: "I have asked officials in my Department to examine options to address the issue of forgotten farmers both through the next CAP and also other measures." It, therefore, appears that even as far back as last year, the Minister was of the view that perhaps CAP could not resolve this matter. By October of this year, all references to CAP were removed. Why has there been a delay? Is there resistance? Most particularly, how much is the Minister planning to allocate for this scheme?

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