Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)

I have to disagree with the Deputy, respectfully. I understand the point he makes about the impact on small-to-medium-sized farms. As regards ACRES payments, however, 99% of 2023 farmers have been paid fully, with 97% advance payments in respect of 2024 and 94% of the remainder having received their balancing payments for 2024 as well. It was not good enough when I came in. I put a lot of focus on and energy into it. There were 14,500 farmers unpaid, there are 1,500 left, and we are moving might and main to get their cases resolved. Significant progress has been made in this area.

I did not say - nobody said - that there was no money left for TAMS. It is not factually correct for the Deputy to say that. I have talked about being responsible in my management of that budget because it is a budget of €440 million that has to be managed from 2021 to the end of 2027. I would not be responsible if I did not flag that I may need to introduce ranking and selection in the future.

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