I thank you most sincerely for giving me the opportunity of raising this very important matter. It is clear that the Department of Agriculture and Food and the Minister for Agriculture and Food have been dragging their feet in relation to this important question. I deplore the action of the Minister and our Agriculture Commissioner in Brussels for the incompetent manner in which they presented Ireland's application for the extension of the disadvantaged areas.
In an interview which John Cushnahan, MEP, and I had with the Commissioner, Ray MacSharry, in Strasbourg on 23 November, 1990, Mr. MacSharry promised that the fate of thousands of Irish farmers who hope to be included in the extension of the disadvantaged areas would be known in three weeks from that date. That was reported in a reputable national daily paper. It is now four months since the Commissioner gave that promise and there has still not been a decision.
The Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food, Deputy Kirk, is on the record of the House as saying that Ireland's application would be finalised during our term of the EC Presidency which expired on 30 June 1990. What has happened since? Everybody knows that Italy held the Presidency since then and that we are now half way through the Luxembourg Presidency, but no action has been taken on Ireland's application, which is a disgraceful state of affairs. Paddy Lane, a reputable Member of the European Parliament, gave an interview in the Farm Exam on 1 February 1990, over 13 months ago. He stated in the Farm Exam on 1 February 1990 that this would be a St. Patrick's Day gift. Nothing has happened since. Another St. Patrick's Day has come and gone and no action.
It is high time the Commissioner in Brussels, the Minister for Agriculture and Food and the MEP apologised for misleading Irish farmers. Why has it taken over three years to present Ireland's application and get a decision on it? Why keep thousands of Irish farmers in limbo waiting to know if they are included in the extension? It is clear that a half-hearted commitment on the Government's part, coupled with a bungling approach by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, has resulted in thousands of farmers losing out for two years on badly needed financial assistance.
It is now vitally important that the appeals procedure the Minister is supposed to be setting up be totally independent and conclude its deliberations as quickly as possible. It is very hard to understand why Ireland's case has been deferred for so long. It was clear once the criteria were laid down for the extension of the disadvantaged areas that it was only a matter of applying for that extension. The criteria for the areas to be included are a stocking rate of less than one livestock unit per hectare, that less than 7.8 per cent of the area be ploughed land and the family farm income per male farm worker in the area not exceed 80 per cent of the national average family farm income per male farm worker.