Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I accept fully what the Leas-Chathaoirleach said.

I wish to speak briefly about the importance of farm payments to many counties. Today, counties are getting green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments for 2022, which have been announced by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy McConalogue. These are coming at an important time for farm families. In my county of Roscommon, 1,800 farmers will get those payments, which will be in their bank accounts in the coming days. The payments are worth €6.4 million in total. In the Deputy Leader's county, it is €12.4 million, and approximately 3,500 farmers will qualify. In Galway, 3,900 farmers will qualify for a total of €13.6 million. That comes on top of the sheep welfare payments of €17.5 million to many counties, including counties in the Northern Sound region, as we say, which takes in the area of the Leas-Chathaoirleach, including Cavan, Monaghan, parts of Meath, north Longford and other areas. They are very important payments for rural communities and farm communities. As my rural colleagues know - Senator Dooley's county of Clare also received an allocation - much of that money is invested in local shops, businesses and merchants, whether they are agricultural merchants or meal merchants, and it is important in the context of keeping the rural economy and jobs going. Often, the payments are not highlighted enough. This is the last year of the GLAS. It will be replaced by the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, which will, in time, be a very good scheme. The sheep welfare scheme, in respect of which there was an announcement in recent days, ran for six years and is coming to an end, also to be replaced by a new scheme. I am putting on record the importance of those payments, particularly this year, because although prices are good, costs are high for farmers. It is important that we recognise those payments, which are a big financial support to farm families.