Last Sunday I was at the very successful Clonmel Agriculture Show. I met many farmers whose combine harvesters were oiled and greased ready to start harvesting what looks to be a very promising harvest, thankfully. All we need is the weather. Those farmers who are planning on cutting and harvesting their crops have no idea of next year's requirements under the new Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, proposals. Neither the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, nor anybody else can tell them. When will they know?

The day they cut the corn, bale and take the straw off the fields is the day they need to start sowing winter wheat, barley and everything else for next year. Why is there a delay? Why are we trying to hound our farmers out of business by means of frustration and the imposition of punitive measures? They do not even know what they are supposed to do as regards next year's planting season, what they can grow and what measures they must adopt and adapt to. This is totally unfair to farmers. It is time the Government respected the agricultural industry for what it is, namely, the primary industry in this country.

The Deputy is referring to the CAP rules for next year. We are engaging with the European Commission in terms of getting our national CAP plan adopted by the Commission. No country's plan has yet been adopted. I am very hopeful that Ireland will be one of the first to do so because of the really good progress we are making. This will bring the clarity that is required. Supporting the tillage sector and tillage farmers is a key priority of the Government. Last year, for the first time ever, I introduced a strong co-operation measure that is now programmed into the next CAP, will be there for the next five years and will pay €10,000 to each tillage farmer with 100 acres.

And we know what they can do. They want to work.

We also introduced the tillage incentive scheme this year. This pays €400 per hectare for each additional hectare of tillage grown. We will see 200,000 extra tonnes of grain grown as a result of that. This is a reflection of how this Government is backing tillage farmers in this country.

Tell them what they can do.

Part of that will involve bringing clarity on the CAP plan for next year as soon as possible.