Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is badly out of touch. I travel around the country all the time and have travelled to every county in the country when putting the CAP programme together. I also travel around the country regularly engaging with farmers in every county and there is strong recognition of the funding the Government is putting into agriculture and backing agriculture. The Deputy should know that in the current CAP, of which this is the first year, we have increased our national funding commitment by 50%, which is the largest ever increase in CAP funding in respect of national co-funding. That is what the Government is doing. We are doing all we can and will continue to more where we can. Everyone would like there to be more but we are delivering in a significant way with very strong schemes and that is recognised as well.

Undoubtedly, there is a challenge with generational renewal. Farming is one of the most rewarding professions we have. It brings people through the full life cycle of nature, from animals being born on a farm each spring to seeing crops harvested, recognising the full cycle of natural life. However, it can also be a challenging profession and it does have significant demands and responsibilities. In the current CAP, we have focused payments to encourage young farmers to enter the sector. There is very significant funding there. We have seen an increase and are now dedicating 3% of direct payments to help young farmers establish their farming business. This amounts to approximately €35 million per year for qualifying young farmers. We also have the 60% grant rate for on-farm investments where farmers are constructing buildings or sheds. There are over 600 separate on-farm investments for which a young farmer can apply for 60% funding. The figure was 500 and we have added an additional 100 investments for which farmers can apply. Those are the supports that are available. While this is a challenge, at Government level, we are doing all we can to provide support and funding.

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