Noel Coonan (Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister and her officials for coming to the House and compliment them on the manner in which they dealt with the legislation before us. My regret is that what will be very good legislation could have been great had the Minister accepted our amendments. I remind the Minister that we will watch carefully to ensure she honours the commitments she has given us that the Department will not raid payments due to farmers from premium payments etc. for collection purposes. She said that would be a last resort. I wish to reiterate that we will be watching that carefully. A commitment has been given to the drawing up of a plan for farmers in arrears. We will be watching that also. The benefits of this legislation to GAA clubs and other community groups is to be welcomed.