Michael Comiskey (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the decision by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Simon Coveney, to clarify the position on land eligible for payment. This posed a great problem. We have all been representing farmers who were disqualified or who lost a substantial part of their payment in the past year because their land was deemed ineligible. The problem was that the decision was up to the inspector, but two inspectors could have taken a different view. One might have said land was eligible while the other might have deemed it ineligible.

The booklet that is to be sent to all farmers will at least give a guideline and show exactly where farmers stand. If after looking at the book a farmer finds parcels of land are not eligible, he can red-line them and take them out. It is a move in the right direction. We had a great discussion on this yesterday at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I hope this will clear up the matter for people in the future.