Vol. 280 No. 1
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of grants paid under the farm modernisation scheme in the year 1st February, 1974, to 31st January, 1975; the number of applicants awaiting grant payment; and the total number of applications made during that period.
37.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the amount of money paid to farmers by way of grants under the farm modernisation scheme in the year 1st February, 1974, to 31st January, 1975; and the proportions of money contributed by the EAGGF and the Irish Government.
38.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of grants paid under the farm modernisation scheme in County Limerick in the year 1st February, 1974, to 31st January, 1975; the number of applicants awaiting grant payment; and the total number of applications made during that period.
39.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the amount of money paid to farmers in County Limerick by way of grants under the farm modernisation scheme in the year 1st February, 1974, to 31st January, 1975; and the proportions contributed by the EAGGF and the Irish Government.
40.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of grants and the amount of money paid to applicants under the farm modernisation scheme in 1974.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle I propose to take Questions Nos. 36 to 40, inclusive, together.
In the year ended 31st January, 1975, grant payments to farmers arose almost entirely under the former farm buildings, water supplies and land project schemes. These payments amounted to £7.25 million for the whole country and £282,000 in County Limerick.
In the calendar year 1974 grants totalling £257 were paid to five farmers under the farm modernisation scheme. Grants amounting to £1,477 were paid to nine farmers under the farm modernisation scheme during the year to 31st January, 1975, of which £550 was paid to seven farmers in County Limerick. All claims being processed for payment in my Department at that date have since been paid.
All expenditure during the year in question was borne by the National Exchequer. Recoupment from the EAGGF which applies only to grants to development farmers will arise in 1976 in respect of expenditure during the present year.
Might I ask the Minister why it is that, although the farm modernisation scheme began to operate in February of last year, by the end of that year, three farmers only in the whole of the country got grants totalling a couple of hundred pounds? What has gone wrong?
I think the Deputy knows the answer to that—that for quite some time there was a dispute in the advisory services which held back the operation of that scheme. Work has to be completed before there is any question of payment of grants thereafter. But the level of overall payments for improvements was quite high during the year.
Surely the Minister is not trying to defend the current situation where, more than 14 months after the initiation of the scheme, a handful of farmers only, approximately 18, in the whole country have been paid farm modernisation scheme grants? The Minister must know that the farm modernisation scheme has not got off the ground as his figures show.
The Deputy knows that work is not completed in a few weeks; it takes a very long time. The EEC contribution comes yearly and we are paid for EEC work a year late.
Is the Minister aware that there is a delay in the payment of grants under the scheme prior to the farm modernisation scheme?
No, I am not so aware. If the Deputy knows of any cases which need to be paid, he might let me know.
41.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of farmers awaiting classification under the farm modernisation scheme; and the number classified.
42.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of farmers in County Limerick awaiting classification under the farm modernisation scheme; and the number classified.
43.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries the number of applications for grants under the farm modernisation scheme that have been processed in County Cork; and the number on the waiting list.
With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 41, 42 and 43 together.
As at 31st March, 12,252 farmers had been classified and the balance of 14,000 applications were at various stages of processing. The corresponding figures for County Limerick are 540 and 550 and for County Cork 534 and 3,144. In addition to the number classified in County Cork some 1,340 applicants are being catered for under special arrangements for dealing with urgent works.
Would the Minister give an approximation of the percentage of commercial, developing and transitional farmers?
The only information I have here is the total number of applications received, the number where eligibility was determined, the number classified and the number not yet classified. I have not the information the Deputy is seeking.
Is the Minister satisfied that after 14 months in operation of the scheme a figure of 12,000 as against 14,000 still to be processed is a satisfactory situation?
It is only fair to say that the scheme has been working for the past few months. To be at the stage where approximately half of the applications have been processed, indicates that we are catching up very rapidly on the number of applications.
44.
asked the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries if he is satisfied that the farm modernisation scheme is being implemented in such a way as to ensure the optimum development of Irish farms.
I am satisfied that the emphasis which the scheme places on proper planning of the farm business is calculated to secure the optimum development of farms.
Does the Minister not accept that the ruling out of the majority of farms in Ireland as development farmers confines them to a smaller range of grants at a lower level of payment and that this obviously militates against the national purpose of stabilising the rural population?
This is so in every country; it is not peculiar to Ireland.
I am asking the Minister if he is satisfied with this?
Of course, I am not satisfied. If we could get a better scheme, I would be all for it. I am anxious to qualify the maximum number of farmers.
Question No. 45.
Arising from the Minister's reply in which he indicated that he was satisfied that the operation of the farm modernisation scheme is geared to ensure the optimum development of farms, and in the light of supplementaries, is he satisfied that the scheme is not so geared, and action needs to be taken to change it in order to serve the smaller farmers?
The modernisation scheme is better than anything that previously existed. I said that if it were possible to have a better scheme I would be all for it.
Question No. 45.
Is the Minister doing anything about preparing a better scheme.
The Minister said on many occasions in this House that it was not his intention to do anything about changing the system until it was in active operation for at least 12 months. It is not possible to go back to the EEC and say that in practice we found this scheme deficient in many ways.
The Minister said that this scheme is better than any other scheme in operation here. Surely that is a contradiction of what he said earlier when he promised that no farmer would be worse off.
We were then talking about the disadvantaged areas. We are now discussing the farm modernisation scheme.
The majority of farmers will not be better off.
Does the Minister think that the monetary criteria, the income level, required for classification as a development farmer is a very serious drawback in the modernisation scheme and debars the majority of our farmers?
I agree.
Will the Minister use his best endeavours to get rid of the scheme?
The Deputy knows what we are trying to do about that. Instead of having one national level of income we want to split it into three in the hope of getting more farmers to qualify as development farmers.
Question No. 45. I have allowed a great deal of latitude on this question. I have called Question No. 45 on numerous occasions.
