Let us be honest about the fuel support scheme. The Government sold farmers a pup. When the price of green diesel spiked by 80% and farmers were struggling, the Government offered them 2.4 cents off per litre. It was an insult. We warned the Government on the floor of the Dáil what was going to happen. Sure enough, what happened was a revolt. When farmers and contractors went to the trouble of protesting, the Government, after several days of blackening those people, announced a bigger scheme for farmers worth €100 million. Ministers were on the radio promising €100 million and promising farmers relief. The reality was very different because the vast majority of farmers I have spoken to in County Mayo are ineligible. They cannot apply. They listened to the Minister for agriculture and many other Ministers on radio promising relief. When they looked at the detail of the scheme, they saw it is calculated so that the minimum payment is €100 and the minimum amount of fuel is 1,200 litres of green diesel from the previous year, 2025. That is the threshold. Below 1,200 litres, people cannot apply and do not qualify. The Government has promised farmers a scheme and the vast majority of small and medium-sized farmers across Ireland are ineligible. Small beef farmers, part-time farmers, men and women who have 30, 40 or 50 suckler cows and 50 or 60 acres will not avail in the vast majority of cases. I have spoken to farm consultants who, in some cases, are advising farmers not to bother because it is not worth it. The spin has to end. It is time the Government treated farmers and the people of this country with decency and honesty. All of this is landing at a time inputs continue to rise and factory quotes are falling dramatically. Over the past year, there have been reductions of over €1 per kg of beef and in the past number of weeks, there was about 50 cent of a drop. It is simply not good enough. The scheme is totally inadequate.

Sentiment score: 0.03