Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is no resistance and the commitment is crystal clear. For many years, there had been no commitment to these farmers. There was no proposal, plan or Government commitment to address them and to making sure that a scheme was put in place to reflect the fact that they did not get a fair crack of the whip. I made sure when I came out of opposition and went into government that it was a programme for Government commitment and that there would be a commitment by the Government to deliver on it. I have been working that through now as Minister. There has been much work and assessment going into it to identify the different cohorts that are involved and to pull it all together. We are finalising the criteria and the strands around that so that we can go forward with an application process. However, let there be no doubt this is going to happen. This is a commitment. There is going to be a scheme for these farmers that has not been there before. It will be there, and it is a matter stepping it out. There is a lot of work involved in it and it is taking a bit of time, but it is coming. It will be there for them and rightly so.

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