Fair Deal review for farmers
Deputy Brassil complained that promised changes to the fair deal scheme for farmers and small businesses had not been implemented. The Taoiseach said he would check progress with the responsible Minister of State and come back to him.
I will lead by example, as always. In the programme for Government and in last year's budget a commitment was given to review the fair deal scheme, in particular for small businesses and farmers. Almost 18 months on, that change has still not been made and small businesses and farmers across the country are still suffering and unable to avail of the proposed changes. Will the Government follow through on the commitment that has been made many times in this Chamber and introduce the changes for those people caught up in this situation?
Comment on this
I will have to check with the Minister of State, Deputy Jim Daly, the progress on implementing those changes. We want to do this. I acknowledge we have said we will do it for a very long time and have not done it yet. I will check with the Minister of State how that is proceeding and get back to Deputy Brassil.