asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is prepared to update the basic costs for grant purposes under the farm modernisation and the western drainage schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Agricultural Schemes.
23.
Because of the severe pressure on Exchequer resources it has not been possible to make any revision recently in the standard national costings used to determine the amount of grant-aid under the farm modernisation and the western drainage schemes. The matter is, however, being kept under continuous review.
Mr. Leonard
Would the Minister of State not agree, especially now with the introduction by the Minister for Finance of additional VAT on contractual work, that this will add an extra burden to a scheme which has not been updated since 1979?
As I previously mentioned to the Deputy, we will be looking at all those things in the review. I am sure that there are many farmers who would certainly agree with what the Deputy says.
Mr. Leonard
Would the Minister of State not agree that when this scheme was introduced in 1979 many contractors bought very expensive equipment so that they could operate the scheme and now because of the cost and the backlog of applications they are not able to get work and are unable to make their repayments? This is creating very serious difficulties throughout the country.
The Deputy must acknowledge that the scheme has been very successful and that a great amount of land has been drained. I believe the people who organised this scheme in their wildest dreams did not think that such a large area of land would be drained. That causes its own trouble. I will certainly take the Deputy's views into consideration.