Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I am pleased to contribute to this important debate on agriculture. I have already made numerous comments and suggestions over the years in this regard. I have made many suggestions in this House that some of the farming organisations did not like, but I knew I was correct and am glad I was vindicated in the viewpoint I often articulated in the House in this regard.

I wish to particularly comment during this debate on the number of reductions in vital expenditure areas proposed by the Minister. When implemented, these will have significant and profound adverse effects on the farming community. I recall as a young student in UCD in 1974 that up to 325,000 people in Ireland were classified as farmers and approximately 0.5% of the land became available for transfer through sale and-or inheritance. We have witnessed in the past few decades a virtual decimation of the number of farmers. If things keep going as they have gone over the past 30 years, we will have only approximately 30,000 full-time farmers by 2016.

I also recall the fact that farmers were not generally transferring lands inter vivos at farm level. They were passed on upon the death of the landholder through inheritance by the instrument of the will. There was then the advent of two very important and effective social change instruments, namely, the early retirement scheme and installation aid scheme. These schemes were facilitative in nature, and with the addition of some monetary rewards, they altered the landscape for the earlier transfer of farms within or outside the family while still retaining the integrity of same.

The payment under the scheme is €15,000, it used to be £5,000 and then it increased to £7,500. That payment was extremely useful and of great assistance to young farmers who in order to benefit had to have attained certain educational qualifications. The grant helped defray some of the legal costs associated with the lease or transfer involved. These were important schemes in speeding up the transfer of farms leading to an increase in productivity ultimately, and the retaining of another young person on the land, thereby arresting the drain or depletion in the number of farmers, which is important in terms of the social fabric and infrastructure of rural Ireland, which is under threat.

From the foregoing perspective it makes eminent sense, both from a financial and social standpoint, to ensure that those schemes are restored and the suspensions proposed by the Government lifted. The installation aid grant of €15,000 pales into insignificance when it is compared with the cost of generating an IDA-backed job.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Hear, hear.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Farming is another important job in rural areas where for various reasons it is extremely difficult to secure any jobs. Small shop owners know the importance of the rural community, especially the farming community, in ensuring the sustainability of local jobs and the spending of money in the local economy.

What will happen to young farmers who have made significant advances in order to participate in the scheme but who did not have the application form submitted by the cut-off date of 14 October 2008? In the current economic crisis, has any other European Union member state carried out the same suspension, cut or removal of an important support for young farmers or those who are trying to get started? I would hazard a guess that no other European country has embarked upon that process to undermine in such a deliberate way an effort to keep young farmers on the land.

The €34 million cut in disadvantaged area payments will impact significantly on up to 40,000 low-income farmers with the cut in the area eligible for farm payments from 45 hectares to 35 hectares. That smacks of desperation. It will particularly hurt those farming in hill areas. The halving of the suckler cow payment from €80 to €40 will have an impact also. The Minister explained that not a cent of the intended budget for this worthwhile scheme will be lost as a result of what he euphemistically calls an adjustment in the payment process. Nevertheless, the budget cuts in those two areas will also impact on farmers in the midland and lowland areas.

I wish to give an example from the area in Longford-Westmeath that I represent where I get a huge farming vote. Who would not do so? The average loss of income for farmers in Longford due to the cut in the suckler welfare scheme will be €720 and in Westmeath it will be €904. The cut in the disadvantaged area grant will result in a loss of income per farm of €995 in Longford and €982 in Westmeath.

I called some time ago for an extension of the deadline for the farm waste management scheme. Between 2000 and 2006, €978 million was spent, excluding VAT, on capital investment in farm buildings. This year €1 billion will be spent, yet next year only €330 million will be spent. One does not need to be a mathematical genius to suggest what will happen. Just when we had 17,000 extra workers added to the live register today, the Minister has cut the legs out from under everybody. The scheme could have been extended. We all know what happened with the weather. For three months one could not put a swan out on the land no matter what part of Ireland one was in. It was absolutely stupid to abolish that scheme. We should remember that it is only a money-saving exercise by the Exchequer. The extension of the scheme does not need EU approval. The scheme closed in 2006. The numbers are there. The money that needs to be allocated is already defined, delineated and demarcated. It was only a penny-pinching exercise by the Exchequer not to extend the scheme.

No one should tell me about Europe. Can it interfere in such a way as to abolish our right to ensure that we have the farm installation and buildings that are needed for the comfort and convenience of animals, apart from the improvement in environmental standards that will result? Those schemes provided a considerable amount of work in rural areas. I refer again to Johnny Owens's firm that used to employ 130 people but that number went down to 80. A further 40 people have been laid off and a number of others are under notice. That is what the suspension of the scheme has meant in rural areas. If the scheme had been extended for five or six months we could have kept the construction industry going for that period and got it over the hump. I cannot understand the Minister's decision.

The over-enforcement of the nitrates directive in regard to tillage farmers is of concern. Again, the prevailing poor weather conditions has had a major impact. Now tillage farmers are being harassed by the ploughing regulations introduced under the nitrates directive. I wrote a book on the issue. I cannot understand how the regulations slipped under everyone's radar. We need to address the issue as a matter of urgency.

There is a requirement that ground ploughed must have a green cover within six weeks of ploughing. In bad weather one does not have to be Einstein or a first-year agriculture student to realise that such a proposition causes extreme difficulty for a tillage farmer. How can a grower who has ploughed ground in wet conditions and who has experienced compaction, an obvious consequence of using heavy machinery, which is something we all know a bit about, be expected to go back and sow crops that have a green cover, where the failure to do so would result in penalties? In addition, there is cross-compliance.

Is the Minister's Department implementing this measure or is it the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government? We had better find out quickly and get our act together because farmers have to adhere to good practice. Farmers are utilising the book of good farming practice. That is what we should use to implement the directive and not have people checking for cross-compliance and cutting up to 5% from payments due. The head will not be worth the wash as they say in Westmeath if the Government keeps going the way it is. The Government should get its house in order. This particular regulation is stupid.

It is more stupid when one looks at how the issue is being handled in the United Kingdom. A green cover is not required there for the winter period and that is eminently sensible. Neither is there a closed period for ploughing in the United Kingdom. On the contrary, the UK environmental agency appears to promote winter ploughing and subsoiling, especially where compaction is a problem. Furthermore, the nitrogen recommendation for main crops is significantly higher in the UK legislation. The system that operates in the UK appears to adopt a more flexible approach, which clearly takes cognisance of the practical situation that applies to ground and is sensible. Given the inclement weather of recent summers and autumns, which pertained during the harvest period, it is clear there was significant impaction which necessitates subsoiling and early ploughing. Late ploughing in such circumstances results in poor establishment, less efficient use of nitrates, deficiencies and reduced yields and an increased risk of disease and carryover from volunteer cereals. That is very important even though one might not know a lot about it.

Equality of treatment is an essential element that is supposed to underpin the application of EU legislation. It appears that rules which are environmental in nature are not being consistently applied across the EU. Why should Irish growers be more constrained, disadvantaged and punished? That is the type of measure that led to farmers, among others, adopting a negative tone, when they should not have done, to the vote on the Lisbon treaty.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The Deputy has one minute remaining.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I could speak for another hour.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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We would be none the wiser about what Deputy Penrose is saying.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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I know an awful lot more about farming than Deputy Dooley. I learned it the hard way. If the Deputy looks up at the audience in the Gallery he will see some of the people who know that I know a great deal about it. Some 35% of my vote comes from those in the farming sector in County Westmeath. I am proud to have advocated their cause at every turn. They know what side their bread is buttered on. I never forgot where I came from, unlike some of the Deputies opposite who seem to have forgotten where they have come from.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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What the Government has done is mean-spirited. If they had any respect for the construction industry — since the party no longer has a tent at the Galway Races, perhaps they do not know who their friends are, but they probably still have a few friends in the construction industry — they should make sure that small businesses are looked after such as that of Johnny Owens. They should remove the requirement in respect of the 31 December clause. It is only a penny-pinching exercise. There is no EU restriction or impediment preventing the Minister from extending that period. The authorities in Northern Ireland are prepared to do it and the period there has been extended up to March.

Máire Hoctor (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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They are not.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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They are prepared to do it. The Minister should not be afraid to do that. We are not going cap in hand to the EU. It is no wonder we are in the position we are with that type of approach.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The Deputy should conclude.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Let us get back to Europe and fight for the people. We are not only talking about farmers but about ordinary workers employed in the construction industry. I want to make sure that their jobs are protected and they are given an opportunity to earn a livelihood for themselves and their children.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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The audience in the Gallery should not applaud during proceedings.

I wish to share time with Deputies Dooley, Calleary, Scanlon and Aylward, and the Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Deputy Sargent.

Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I wish to refute the comments made by Deputy Penrose. My audience is not in the Visitors Gallery; it is the small farmers in Donegal. Small farmers comprise the audience of most Members on this side of the House.

Coming from a small farming background, I am only too well aware of the difficulties being experienced by farmers nationally. The value of farming and farm produce to society cannot be overestimated. I was reared on a farm, which is now farmed by my brother, and I am aware that the vast majority of my supporters come from a small farming background in Donegal. My background keeps me very much in touch with the concerns of farmers, particularly at present. It is regrettable that farmers are experiencing difficulties in certain areas. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable given the global economic decline. Given this decline, we must recognise that limited resources are available.

It galled me recently to listen to some commentators on farming. There is negativity in the farming sector although unprecedented funding was invested of late in areas such as farm waste management. It galled me further to hear the point made in certain quarters to the effect that the Minister should extend the period in which slatted houses can be built. Coming from a civil engineering background, I do not understand this request at all.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I will explain it to the Deputy.

The Deputy will have his chance in a minute and should listen to me when I am speaking. He might have the manners to listen. If a farmer cannot build a slatted shed in spite of the weather, he should sack his architect.

Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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One does not need an architect.

I could advise any man about building a slatted shed in this country. One does not need advisers telling one that one cannot build one's shed. They should come to me and I could tell them in two minutes how to do it before the deadline.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Government told us how to run the country but has it destroyed.

The Deputies opposite will have their say in a minute.

Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I do not believe the Deputy would make a living from farming.

On a positive note, spending on REPS will be increased to €355 million next year, thus ensuring new entrants will be catered for, and the Minister deserves credit for doing everything in his power to protect the REPS payment. There are currently approximately 60,000 participants in the REP scheme, which addresses environmental imperatives and consumer demand for environmentally friendly food production. Under REPS 4, grant aid will be increased by 17%, which is very much welcomed on this side of the House. Expenditure on forestry will be increased by 6%. This will facilitate a similar level of planting to that of this year. The benefit is twofold in that it will help to boost the income of farmers and contribute to addressing climate change.

The suckler welfare scheme was established recently and expenditure is expected to amount to €215 million over five years. However, the number of participants has substantially exceeded expectation and, as a result, there is pressure to reduce the rate of payment per animal to bring expenditure back within the €215 million limit. This is in accordance with what the former Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy Mary Coughlan, stated when announcing the grant.

There are a number of areas in which farmers are experiencing difficultly but I am confident that the Minister, Deputy Smith, will deliver for them, as he has done recently in respect of REPS. I commend him on his efforts to address concerns raised during the WTO talks earlier in the year. He handled those talks very well——

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy must be joking.

——despite scare-mongering by some who asked for the veto to be exercised. The Minister kept a cool head and had like-minded people around him.

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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He got lucky.

This demonstrates his ability to deal with the current problems and lead us through the economic difficulties. Farmers will be better off for this in the longer term.