That was over 13 years ago now. I will review the files. It is not that it has not been investigated before, and a lot of time has passed since that.

I will read the file again.

That comprehensive set of investigations has been done. There has not been any-----

I take the point the Deputies are making but there has not been any-----

There has not been any new evidence presented subsequent to what would have been available at the time of the investigations. One of those investigations concluded that there was no evidence of fluoride or cadmium toxication levels in the herd-----

-----nor any evidence of environmental pollution on the farm. That is what was in the reports. I will take the point of the four Deputies coming together to make the case this evening. I will review and read the files further as well. I have laid out the background to it.

The investigations that were here previously-----

I am happy to discuss it further but I am laying out clearly the background to it, the comprehensive assessment that has gone on in it already and the clear view that there has been no new evidence presented that changes the situation.

I thank the Deputy for her question. With the indulgence of the House, I note at the outset that we do not have any questions at the top of the ranking on the list in respect of payments. That is a reflection of the hard work that the payments section has done in recent times to work through the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, and to pay out significant payments. Some 90% of the applicants for the new basic payment or basic income supplement scheme are being paid this week. I say that in the context that today…

I thank the Deputy. We have received proposals from different representative organisations and have been very keen to encourage people to bring proposals to us in recent years. Each proposal we have received has been assessed, and we have worked to make such proposals eligible for the BAR scheme in any way we can. It has been my objective to do everything possible to draw down BAR funding for the agriculture and fisheries sectors. The fisheries sector was significantly impacted by Brexit in that we had a direct los…

In relation to the tillage sector, which has had a very difficult year, I have delivered three tranches of funding: €7 million from the EU; €7 million in additional funding this year through the straw incorporation scheme; and €7 million in the budget for next year. If there were ways of drawing down BAR funding for the sector I would do so but we are talking here about a particular weather event rather than a Brexit event. I have been working to make sure that I could pull down every bit of funding possible. We ar…

I secured funding of €1.5 billion for ACRES. This is the largest amount ever committed to an agri-environment scheme. The Government committed this funding to support what is the central and flagship agri-environment climate measure in Ireland’s Common Agricultural Policy Strategic Plan 2023-2027. ACRES will not only play a huge role in driving environmental improvements, it will also provide crucial income support to farm families for the work they are doing. Interest in the scheme has been unprecedented with 46,0…

Over the five-year period, the funding we have profiled for ACRES is sufficient to meet the needs of 50,000 applicants. Over the course of the next year we will get to that 50,000 figure and obviously we will then have to assess how many more farmers are in the scheme and monitor that as it goes forward. In terms of next year's budget, we will be bringing it up to the 50,000 and we have agreement and budgets in place to be able to fully fund those 50,000 farmers. It is really encouraging, but not surprising, to see…

We have got to grips with our forestry sector. Massive work has gone into it over the past couple of years. As the Deputy knows, the outcome of a court case in 2019 radically changed the way each licence had to be assessed. This led to a big backlog in licence applications but we have now worked our way through that. Anybody applying for a forestry licence today will receive it within six months if it does not require an impact assessment or within nine months if such an assessment is needed. We have dealt with tha…

As the Deputy is aware, on 6 October I announced important flexibility to the lime-spreading deadline under the national liming programme. While the deadline of 31 October remains in place for receipt of claims, and for payment for lime, applicants now have until 31 March 2024 to spread their approved quantity of lime. Approximately 38,500 farmers have been approved for the programme. The extension to the spreading deadline was granted in response to the very challenging weather conditions this year which have sign…

I am closely monitoring the situation. I want as many farmers as possible to avail of this. Not enough farmers are spreading lime. It used to be done far more and it needs to be done far more in future. It will help to ensure farmers have more profitability for the work they carry out. That is why, this year, I put in place for the first time a lime scheme. It was great to see the uptake, with almost 40,000 farmers applying for it. I want to make sure as many of them as possible follow through in that regard and do…

I am considering that and monitoring it closely. I want as much follow through as possible in respect of farmers purchasing lime and spreading it. I am closely monitoring it daily and getting feedback from farmers. I have to balance the need to ensure farmers get paid and the need to utilise the budget this year for it. Many farmers spread lime earlier this year too. It has been much more challenging to do so in recent months. Those who spread it earlier in the year have uploaded their receipts. That is good to see…

I have been in regular contact with farming organisations and farm groups on issues relating to the tillage sector. Yesterday, I met with one of the stakeholders, namely, the Irish Grain Growers, and last week I met the IFA tillage committee to discuss the challenging situation in the sector at the moment in the light of the poor harvest. Earlier this year, I specifically requested and secured support for the sector from the EU agriculture reserve in light of the significant challenges relating to the weather and h…

I appreciate the Deputy raising the issue here today. The Deputy's colleagues, the Minister of State, Deputy Browne, Senator Malcolm Byrne and Deputy Kehoe, have been in touch with me on numerous occasions and have updated me in detail on that meeting and the outcome of it. Nobody is looking for slaps on the back here. We are looking to see how we can support the sector through what is a really-----

-----unprecedented and difficult time. I want to see the tillage sector grow in this country over the years ahead. For the first time in the past two years, we have seen a 6% growth in the area under tillage. The really challenging situation this year is going to put real pressure on that. That is something I want to support the sector with over the next period. As I said, a few weeks ago we added an extra €7 million. There is €7 million on top of that from the European Commission, which will be paid in January. Th…