John Carty (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food for coming to the House and taking time out from a busy schedule on his way to Brussels to negotiate on the Common Agricultural Policy health check. I also welcome the Minister of State to the House.

I fully agree with Senator Bradford on the importance of Europe to Irish agriculture. I would also like to remind certain farming organisations that they were a little less than genuine in the recent campaign. I hope that if it is rerun, they will come out in a more positive light. Last time they came out to support the treaty in the end, but it was a little too late when they did so. The winds are pretty cold in Europe at the moment.

The Minister is on his way to Europe, and I wish him well. He will be dealing with very important issues, especially for Ireland. One of these issues is the Council regulation on the implementation of the single payment scheme. That is very important to us, and he mentioned in his speech that the Government wants it simplified. Farmers are overburdened with paperwork and any simplification would be of great benefit. Ministers from other member states are of a similar mind on many of the proposals, but it is clear that progress will be made on this in the health check. When this is done, I hope there will be less paperwork for farmers and that the Department will put simplified measures in place that will entitle the farming community to get on with their work rather than being accountants who must justify the draw down of grants.

Milk quotas are also important to us. At a meeting last week, the ICMSA looked for different options. What is being proposed is okay. It gives us plenty of time — up until 2015 — to deal with this issue.

One sector that has not got much of a mention is the sheep sector. Much work remains to be done as confidence in the sheep trade is at an all-time low. Producers are getting out of the sheep sector owing to the low income involved. It is true to say that lamb prices are as low as they were 25 years ago when they cost a lot less to produce. I hope the Minister will try to implement the Malone report and the report of Liam Aylward, MEP. This sector is badly in need of an lift. The hill sheep sector is nearly finished. Destocking occurred and there is no market for the lightweight lamb in Italy and Spain.