Paddy Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What the Minister of State is saying is that if a fire takes place between 1 March and 31 August the farmer loses money unless the appeal is successful. Even at that, the farmer will have to go through the rigours of the appeal process. These appeals should be fast and simple. They should not be complicated. Farmers who are not responsible for the fires should be fully recompensed immediately. This is the view of all farmers. As the Minister of State well knows, there can be great hardship. Farmers have commitments such as bank payments. There is huge hardship in some cases. I ask the Minister of State to bring back to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine our argument that the appeals process should be easy and determined quickly.The only person who should be responsible at the end of the day is the person who caused the fire.