Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The scheme looks to be a disaster. From a health and safety point of view, we cannot ask farmers who are living alone to try to get their big cows onto scales to weigh them for less than €40. What is the benefit? There is no benefit whatsoever. Somebody in the Department came up with this harebrained scheme to try to ensure only a limited number of farmers would be able to avail of it at a time of crisis. Farmers in the United Kingdom with a single suckler cow are getting a higher price than Irish farmers. As they are getting approximately €180 more, we need a €200 suckler cow payment under a scheme with no red tape. I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to come to the House to discuss the issue.