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

The new agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, was welcomed by many farmers. There was to be a system of a scorecard and an app that the Department had put together, especially for those in the commonage areas, for marking the different types of flowers and so on. This app has not worked properly and it was 23 days late in transferring the different portions of land across. The planners around the country are under ferocious pressure and they are asking the Government if it will extend the deadline from the end of August, because they will not get to it. I was talking to a lady planner on Saturday and she could not even get the Internet and the app was not working properly. It is causing huge problems.

Second, there is a huge problem coming down the line in the licensing of cobalt. Will the Government address that with the EU? There is a huge problem there, especially with sheep.

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