Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is not a problem. I appreciate the point Deputy McNamara makes. I referred earlier to two thirds of ACRES general participants claims being in the final stages of being processed before year-end. It is now 13 December, and 18 December is next week. I will interrogate with the Minister the question or otherwise of a State body charging interest in respect of a bill. That does not seem like a practical thing to do when working hand in hand with the Department to try to achieve a results-based outcome. I will confirm the position. I appreciate that the Deputy is better informed on matters of agriculture than I, but there is a practical, logistical point here that the payments are being processed before year-end. There are also payments being processed for February 2024.

The Deputy is enthusiastic to get back in. I remind him that I appreciate that the Minister is not here. The Deputy does get an enormous amount of speaking time relative to Government backbenchers. The way the Dáil is structured now allows great opportunity to enable Deputies to have significant time, whereas Government backbenchers have-----

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