Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh míle maith agat. Senator Paul Daly said that the most disadvantaged should get the most. I suggest that the disadvantaged are the only people who should get any payment. No one would suggest that everyone should get a disability payment regardless of his or her level of disability. Some people do not have a disadvantage. We would say that the payments under the scheme as it is presently constituted need to be refocused on those areas with a definite natural constraint. That is what we are proposing in our motion. We are asking for the retention of the mountain sheep grazing land as a separate category after the review of the areas of natural constraint. We also believe that payments should reflect the multiple biophysical and specific constraints experienced by farmers who farm mountain-type land. Those payments should be set at similar rates to the current offshore island rates. Maybe the Minister will share his thoughts on that one. Does he agree that such payments should be set at similar rates to the current offshore island rates?

Everyone appears to be in agreement that mapping is an issue. There is a need for proper consultation in that regard. This is a very important issue. Many farmers in the areas we are talking about have been confused this week by the mixed messages coming from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine with regard to lands that have been the subject of fire damage payments under the basic payment scheme. I would appreciate it if the Minister could provide some clarification in this respect. What exactly is going to happen to such payments? Will they be affected? Many farmers whose land was burned went out to extinguish the fires themselves. In some cases, they received messages from the Government that they would be docked payments. That would certainly seem to be very unfair.

The simple motion to which I have referred highlights the hypocrisy within Fianna Fáil, which really does not know where it stands on this issue. People like Deputies Ó Cuív and Calleary have said at public meetings that they wholeheartedly and fully support the motion, which has been written with the support of the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association. However, when we proposed to bring the motion to the House and to ask for their political support in the place where we are supposed to do this type of work, Fianna Fáil accused us of shenanigans. It is all over the place on the motion. We welcome the clarification that has been received. We hope that when we get to put our motion on this to a vote, possibly next week, we will get the support of Fianna Fáil and possibly of Fine Gael and the Independents.