Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a matter on which I have made a commitment. As a result of the economic recession prior to the CAP before last, a group of young farmers did not get to avail of a number of supports that had been available previously. Those farmers are still actively farming and we want to see them continuing in that. We also want the fact that they missed out on those earlier opportunities to be acknowledged in some way, and I have made a commitment to do that.

Logistically, there is a significant challenge at departmental level in delivering the scheme, as a system has to be built to deliver it. Last year, we faced a challenge in rolling out the new CAP schemes, which took priority. However, my Department is now working on setting up the system we will need for this scheme and getting us into a position to be able to make the payment. It is one I want to see happen, as it would be meaningful to the many farmers who were not able to avail of the supports in question almost 15 years ago when they started off farming.

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