John Carty (Fianna Fail)

Some €355 million has been provided for REPS in 2009, a 17% increase for farmers joining REPS 4 as new entrants and transferees from REPS 2 and 3. This is a major increase and is most welcome. The Minister is to be complimented on retaining this important contribution to farmers' income. Great work was done with this money, particularly in my part of the country where farms are small. Farmers have upgraded their premises and have them looking well. They are doing a good job with the moneys they receive.

The disadvantaged areas payment for 2009 has taken a hit and the Minister had to take that action reluctantly. In so doing, of 102,000 participants in the scheme, 65,000 will experience no reduction in their payments, while 37,000 participants will. The farmers affected will be those with more than 34 ha or 82 statute acres. Those with acreage under this will not be affected. Some €220 million will be paid to farmers in 2009 under this scheme. Farmers with commonage, that is large acreage along the west coast where the land is bad, will be affected most. The 17% increase in REPS will help to offset this. I and my colleagues have asked the Minister to revisit this issue to establish if something can be done for the farmers who have commonages and poor land.

The former and current Ministers for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food have funded an ambitious and most generous scheme under the farm waste management scheme. A total of €615 million from the Exchequer has been provided for this scheme between 2007 and 2009. In this year alone €377 million will be paid to participants in the scheme. The Minister, Deputy Smith, must be thanked for securing €195 million as an exceptional Supplementary Estimate this year, his Department being the only one to secure that. It shows the Government's commitment to the Irish farmer.

Agriculture is important to Ireland and its economy. As we know, 90% of our produce is exported and this accounts for nearly 10% of our total exports.

I stated that I would much prefer if there was no suspension of schemes and no reduction of payments to the farming sector, but in the current climate that is not possible. The Minister did a good job in getting the balance right thereby ensuring that the least number of farmers would be affected. It is not many years ago, in better financial times, that a Minister for Agriculture, not from this side of the House, I hasten to add, suspended the control of farmyard pollution scheme. Not alone from April 1995 were no new applications accepted with immediate effect but approvals of the 12,000 applications then on hand also ceased on that date due to, as the then Minister of State said, "the unprecedented demand from farmers for aid under the scheme".