James Bannon (Fine Gael)

In recent weeks farmers received an outline statement of their provisional entitlements under decoupling and the EU single payment scheme. Some farmers got a bad deal, particularly those who were sick or had outbreaks of TB, brucellosis and other diseases on their farms. They were told that if they were not satisfied, they could submit an appeal or contact a lo-call query line, but many of them ran up against a brick wall when they tried to do so. As a result, the IFA will be coming to Dublin tomorrow to lobby Senators and Deputies on this and other farm-related issues. I am calling for the new Minister for Agriculture and Food to come to the House to debate this issue, particularly when a minority may have been treated unfairly.