Paul Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine still has to announce some of the finer details of the provision for his Department in the budget. However, I note a reference to an increase in expenditure to €211 million under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS. The original budget for the roll-out of the scheme was €250 million, with a suggested uptake of 50,000 farmers.What is proposed is described as an additional spend to raise the level of take-up from 38,000 to 50,000. However, the shortfall in the original take-up rate was due to the bureaucracy involved. How does the Minister propose that those 12,000 additional farmers will join the scheme if there is no change to the constraints and the bureaucracy involved? How can we say this is an increase in the budget, bringing the figure up to €211 million, when the original roll-out was €250 million, with a proposed average spend per farmer of €5,000? At this stage, the average spend per farmer, due to the bureaucracy, is €4,200 in tier 1 to €4,500 in tier 2? How can that be seen as an increase in spend when the money to be available from the original roll-out of €250 million? Today, there are bells and whistles about an increased spend that will raise the figure to €211 million. The Leader might obtain clarification on that.