I want to ask the Tánaiste about the changes being applied by the Government to the beef genomics programme. This represents a bad deal for farmers. Lest the Tánaiste is not aware of it, it is being talked about across all counties in the country as a bad deal for farmers. There is serious concern about the current structure of the programme, which has serious implications for productive farmers, many of whom have told me that this scheme is unworkable and needs to be changed. Farmers continue to highlight that the scheme is over-complicated and will impose excessive costs on participants and that the conditions attached to the scheme are turning away potential applicants.

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney, has put in place a rule that will bar any new applicants to the scheme following the close of applications, even if desirable changes are made to the scheme in the future. The draconian rule which provides that all payments made over the lifetime of the programme will be clawed back should a farmer withdraw from the scheme is totally unreasonable and will have a negative impact on farmers who are forced to withdraw from the scheme due to a change in personal circumstances. Farmers should also be allowed to make application to the scheme based on the size of their suckler cow herd this year rather than for 2014, as proposed, as this places an unnecessary limit on those who want to expand their herd size into the future.

The outstanding issues in regard to the six-year rule, the star ratings and the overly bureaucratic nature of the scheme need to be urgently addressed. Can the Tánaiste confirm that she is aware of the farmers' concerns and will she ask Government to request the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to take on board the concerns of farmers and agri-organisations in relation to this scheme? Will she further confirm that the Minister will, at least, return to Brussels and attempt to renegotiate a better deal?

I am aware that the Minister, Deputy Coveney, who is dealing with this issue directly, met recently with the IFA in, I think, Claremorris, County Mayo.

He was almost ran out of it.

That is not what we heard.

The Tánaiste without interruption, please. This is Leaders' Questions.

The meeting was attended by more than 1,000 people. It was a constructive meeting.

It was a well attended meeting, with in excess of 500 in attendance. As such, it was not that private a meeting. I understand there was a fairly robust and detailed debate-----

The Government got a wake-up call.

Quiet, please.

-----on the issues which are very important for farmers. I realise, with all the changes taking place within farming, particularly for young farmers who have large investments and big commitments, either in terms of the acreage they own or acreage they may be leasing or renting, that there are big decisions facing family farms and farm companies. It is important that the Minister engages fully with farmers and addresses their concerns and that is what he is doing.

In regard to the changes that came into effect this year in the farming sector and future changes in terms of how these issues are dealt with, anybody who reads the farming press in detail will know how complex an area this is. When Deputy Cowen and I were campaigning in the Carlow-Kilkenny by-election this was certainly an issue farmers wanted to talk about. As I said, it is an important issue. The Government is engaging with the farmers and, in particular, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, is meeting farmers. The Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, is focussing, in particular, on rural communities, on which these changes will also impact.

If Deputy Cowen has proposals around more detailed consultation processes I am sure the Minister, Deputy Coveney, will be happy to look at them. As Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Deputy Coveney has always been available to the farming sector. He continues to engage with small and large groups of farmers and with farmers on an individual basis. As Deputy Cowen is aware, because of his continued dialogue with the IFA and other farm organisations on a range of issues there is a strong social partnership between the farming community, the farming organisations and the Government.

If the Deputy has proposals he would like to make, let us hear them.

I thank the Tánaiste for her answer, about which I will not get too excited. The meeting to which the Tánaiste referred was attended by approximately 1,000 people.

So, the Deputy did know about it.

The Minister was asked to go back to the drawing board.

I thought the Deputy did not know about it.

Every farming organisation is at the end of its tether in regard to this issue. They have briefed Deputies on it here in the Oireachtas and at public meetings in their constituencies. The time for talking is over in terms of farmers putting forward suggestions. Their suggestions have already been made. I would have thought the Tánaiste, as a member of Government, would be aware of those suggestions and that she might have been privy to conversations at the Cabinet table in regard to this issue, if there were any. Clearly there were no such conversations because the Tánaiste is not too well informed on this issue.

Lest the Tánaiste is not aware of them, I will again put on the record the suggestions made by the farmers, which information might be helpful to her when attending future meetings on farming issues. They have suggested a rolling reference year, a mid-term review and a reduction in genomics testing and costs and that in terms of qualification, eligible calves and weanlings be included along with heifers and cows. All they want is more flexibility to make the scheme work.

It appears that the Tánaiste, most definitely, and some of her colleagues are ignoring this issue. Has consideration been given by the Government to any of the reasonable proposals put forward by farmers? Can the Tánaiste confirm today that some action will be taken to alleviate the concerns of farmers throughout the country? Will she also confirm that there has been no discussion on this issue at Cabinet or Government level and reassure me, this House and the people I represent, particularly the farming community, that the Government will take seriously the current concerns expressed by farming organisations on behalf of their members throughout the country? Will she come back to me at a future date with a more reasonable answer?

I am still not clear on what Fianna Fáil is suggesting in regard to this issue.

We are representing farmers.

The Deputy summarised some of the points made by the farming organisations. Rather than throwing around suggestions, Deputy Cowen might outline Fianna Fáil's view on the matter.

The Tánaiste does not have any views.

The Tánaiste is in government.

The Deputy may not be aware of it but I generally meet the farming organisations, at least a couple of times a year.

Put on the wellies.

Quiet, please.

Deputy Mattie McGrath is always praising the Department of Social Protection in regard to the rural schemes-----

Sorry, Tánaiste, you have only 20 seconds remaining.

-----and, particularly, in regard to farm assist.

Put on the wellies.

I am very au fait with the importance of €52 million to the incomes of farm families. If Deputy Cowen has serious proposals to make on behalf of Fianna Fáil-----

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

-----the Minister will give them serious consideration.

In the meantime-----

Sorry, Tánaiste, can you speak through the Chair and do not address Members.

Quiet, please. We have to move on. I call Deputy Mac Lochlainn on behalf of Sinn Féin.