Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I take the point he makes about wanting to ensure that all farmers who want to avail of the scheme can do so. This is a reflection of how well it has been received and the value of it to farmers as well as the value from an environmental and emissions perspective. It is a good initiative. I am glad to be able to put the funding back in for 2022. I will keep it under review. I want to ensure that it is available to everyone, which is why the thresholds are there. The average so far is 20 ha, but people who apply for 40 ha will get €10,000, which is significant support to income. It also puts a floor on the straw market to ensure that income is available. We need to support tillage sector incomes.

We need to have a safety valve too. Last year, people could withdraw at any stage. The safety valve was there to ensure that if straw started to get expensive, we expected to see farmers being able to sell it in order to keep the market right and to not see the price increase unnecessarily. This is a type of scheme that makes sense in a year when yields are high and when there is a good supply of straw that can be used. In years when things are tighter, it cab be used for other purposes. The scheme needs to be flexible in order that it can be used to address any excess.

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. I note his support for the scheme and the points he made.