I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, for coming in this morning. I note that the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, is not here. I very much appreciate the Minister of State who has come in here although it is not for her Department. I know the Minister was at COP but he is back; he was around the House last night. We were told that in the event the Minister was not here and the topic was to be discussed last night, it would be the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, who would take it. Again, the Minister of State is not from the Department of the Minister: I do appreciate how diligent and hard-working he is, as I do all the Ministers here.
When Topical Issues was established, it was so Ministers could be interrogated about the work of their Department. Increasingly, Ministers avoid that by not showing up and it is facilitated by the Ceann Comhairle's office. I appreciate that the Chair this morning is the Leas-Cheann Comhairle rather than the Ceann Comhairle but this denigration of the Dáil is something that needs to be remarked upon. I do not wish to take any more of my time on it but I will be writing to the Ceann Comhairle about it.
ACRES is a much-heralded scheme of the Department of agriculture. It replaces various schemes, REPS being one of them, and GLAS as it became. There was quite a bit of controversy about it for a number of reasons, primarily because it failed to adequately encourage farmers who were farming in marginal areas or areas that were the subject of a designation, and therefore there was a particular environmental sensitivity around the type of agriculture that could be practised there. With such lip service being paid to the environment by the former Taoiseach and current Tánaiste, and to a slightly lesser extent by the current Taoiseach, with the Green Party in government one might expect that these areas might be better protected but in fact they are worse.
For example, the hen harrier scheme was established in the Slieve Aughties in Clare and other areas which are designated for the protection of the hen harrier. It is a very important designation inn Annex 1 species, a bird in decline. It is a pity one might say that the protection does not apply in other areas right beside the Slieve Aughties but that is a slightly different matter. In any event, farmers bought into this and carried out the actions that were required of them. Suddenly, it was just pulled with very little forewarning. Likewise the Burren Life project. I notice the former Minister for Agriculture, Deputy Creed, is here. Did he have his photograph taken in the Burren? If he did not, he was certainly unique among Ministers in the Department of agriculture for 20 years. There was a procession of them down to the Burren to have their photographs taken with this very successful Burren Life project, and the current incumbent just decided to end it just like that. I raised it with the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, and he said farmers should not be out of pocket but they are and will be out of pocket because the Burren Life scheme was axed. If we combine what farmers were getting under the GLAS scheme and the hen harriers scheme, or the GLAS scheme and the Burren Life scheme, it is down.
On top of that, they are not being paid at all because there is a delay now. Usually the Department of agriculture pays out 50% of a scheme early. The calculations can be done thereafter and if someone does not fully comply or if there are issues around it the Department can claw that back from the other 50%. Deputy Brendan Smith, who is also a former Minister for Agriculture and sometimes sits behind me, raised this in the Dáil and asked why 50% of the amount could not be paid out. In fact, none of the amount is to be paid out in the co-operation areas which are generally in a designated area or an area that is particularly environmentally sensitive. Instead of being rewarded, they are being penalised. They have costs to meet. Farmers run a business. I know very few people in this Dáil run a business but they run a business, they have bills to pay now based on the fact that they were projecting getting that income now.
I appreciate it is not the Minister of State's Department and I thank her for coming in. It is a pity the Minister has copped out by not coming. I look forward to knowing what the Department plans to do.