Deputy Treacy has been given permission to raise on the Adjournment of the House the subject matter of a Private Notice Question which he sought to raise today. Will he read his question, please?
Adjournment Debate. - Ewe Premiums.
I want to ask the Minister for Agriculture the reasons that advanced sheep premium payments for 1986 have not been paid for the month of June as promised and if he will, as a matter of urgency, direct that immediate payment be made.
I sincerely thank you, Sir, for giving me the opportunity to raise this very important matter for my constituents and for the people of the west. Like myself, the Minister of State, Deputy Connaughton, is suffering from influenza and I want to thank him for taking this debate. I propose to share my time with my constituency colleague, Deputy Kitt.
The situation pertaining to the balance of the advanced sheep premium payments is very serious in the west. Over the past year we have experienced the most inclement weather ever. As I said on numerous occasions in this House, two out of three farmers in the west, particularly in County Galway, are in serious financial difficulties. Because of the inclement weather there has been a shortage of grass, herbage and fodder production, silage making has been much slower than normal and, due to the bad summer, autumn and winter of 1985, the quality of stock and fodder could not compare with that of other years. As a result we have had bad quality stock, bad quality fodder and the market is very depressed. Over the last few weeks we have seen the livestock processing industry under threat, particularly the meat industry. A group of sheep factories in the south have gone into liquidation. That is very serious and shows how severely the farmers are being hit and the serious financial pressure they are under.
Added to that is the fact that the financial institutions have been putting pressure on the farmers. There must be something seriously wrong when the semi-State company, the Agricultural Credit Corporation, are considering closing two or three branch offices and letting go about 100 staff. As far as I am concerned, they are not playing their part in alleviating the pressure on farmers. They have a particular role to play in restructuring the financial position farmers find themselves in. They know better than any other financial institution the serious position farmers find themselves in and the assets and collateral farmers have. They should be in a position to take over farmers' borrowings. The problem is that the finances of many farmers have been badly managed. All they need is restructuring over a long term, with one borrowing operation, because they have the assets to meet their commitments.
The reason I raised this question is that last Saturday at my many advice centres throughout my constituency farmers came to me complaining that they had been promised that the balance of the ewe premiums would be paid, but they have not been paid as yet. In May, the Minister of State, Deputy Connaughton, in a Dáil debate on agriculture in Connemara said he was currently reviewing the ewe premium and hoped that sheep inspections for the ewe premiums would be ahead of schedule as they were being carried out at a very brisk pace. He went on to say that he hoped to bring the premium payments forward by at least four to six weeks and that would mean that many farmers would get their payments at the end of the following month. Obviously, he meant the end of June; but we have given him four weeks on the maximum period and we are now moving into the ninth week. The information available to me is that no arrangements have been made yet to make these payments.
Farmers are under severe pressure. They do not have any cash flow because of the inclement weather and the depressed markets and they need this extra cash to tide them over their present difficulties. As we all know, the past year has been a disaster for the agricultural industry, particularly for our farmers in the disadvantaged areas of the west and it is imperative that this money be made available to carry them over the summer. Hopefully, with a good grass growth and an improvement in the weather, stocks will improve, the market conditions will improve and the farmers will be in a solid financial position and will be able to recover from the financial difficulties which have been imposed on them over the past year.
There have been many debates on agricultural matters in this House over the past six months. On 11 June, as a result of a parliamentary question I put to the Minister for Agriculture, I was informed that £2,923,000 was owed in arrears to the Land Commission by 33,739 farmers. This clearly illustrates the serious financial pressure on farmers. That is the largest sum of money to be owed to the Land Commission by farmers in the history of this State. This money is due on arrears, annuities and repayments on land which farmers bought over the years, particularly over the last ten years when they paid sometimes in excess of £3,000 an acre. Farmers took the risk and bought that land in good faith, but due to the depressed market and the economic position they are not able to meet their commitments.
I know farmers with assets of £180,000 and liabilities of £60,000, who owe the Land Commission £12,000 and £13,000 but who are not getting the assistance, direction or instruction they need from the Minister for Agriculture, the Minister of State with responsibility for the Land Commission, Deputy Connaughton, the Land Commission or the Department. I do not know why it is not possible to restructure these arrears and to take the farmers out of this financial straitjacket. I appeal to the Minister not alone to release the sheep premium payments immediately, but to give a firm commitment tonight in regard to when the balance of the sheep premiums will be paid and the total amount that will be paid to sheep farmers under this scheme.
We all know the difficulties which bad weather has caused for farmers in the west, particularly in the Shannon Valley area. In County Galway, the Minister's own constituency which is affected by the Shannon, only £59,000 has been paid out in comparison with County Roscommon where almost £207,000 was paid out. As much land on the west bank of the Shannon in County Galway is affected by flooding as there is in County Roscommon or any other country on the eastern bank.
County Galway is the second largest county and I cannot see why there should be this discrimination vis-á-vis the Shannon flood scheme. We all regret the recent appalling weather but we have no control over that. Farmers with 80 acres, 60 acres or 40 acres find themselves in serious difficulties because they have only 12 acres or 13 acres on which to put their stock. Land which was intended for silage and meadow cannot be used for that purpose because farmers have no option but to put their stock on those meadows since the stock cannot go on other land which is completely under water.
I am asking the Minister to tell us tonight when these payments will be released, the exact date and the arrangements that will be made. I share the frustration felt by farmers because every scheme seems to have particular anomalies which affect the west. The Minister recently announced farm improvement grants and installation grants. We commend him for any announcement he makes that will help the farmers in the west. These recently announced grants are not to the advantage of the farmers in the west. There is difficulty with the standard man days and we see a total anomaly where a farmer milking 20 cows with a milking machine will not qualify for those grants and another farmer milking 20 cows by hand will qualify for them. This is illogical and ludicrous and needs immediate rectification. We must ensure that whatever assistance is made available in every area will be to the advantage of the people in the areas for which it is intended. I appeal to the Minister to look at that and to recognise that farmers are in serious difficulty. I know there may be pressure on the Exchequer, and maybe this money coming in from Europe is being used to cushion the pressure on the Exchequer. That should not happen. Farmers are in serious difficulty as individuals, as heads of households and of families. They must sustain their families on the land. They have no other option. I appeal to the Minister tonight to ensure that this position is clarified and the green light is given for the payments of these moneys.
I would like clarification vis-á-vis an advance payment which has already been made to a farmer who has, say, 100 sheep — in round figures to make it easy for the Minister. Due to the inclement weather and the serious financial position in which the farmer finds himself he has no option but to dispose of ten or 20 ewes in order to meet his financial commitments, sustain his family, or purchase fodder for the rest of his stock. Will this man be allowed for those ten or 20 ewes, or whatever he had to dispose of? Will it impinge or infringe on the total money being paid to him or will the total payment or the balance that should be made to him be paid? Will it not be paid at all? I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify this.
Again, a Cheann Comhairle, I thank you for giving me and my colleague this opportunity to raise this urgent matter on behalf of our constituency and county and the farmers of the west. I appeal to the Minister to clarify the position, to give a firm commitment on the date on which these payments will be made, tell us the number of farmers who will benefit from it, and the total amount of money being made available to them.
I support my colleague, Deputy Treacy in asking the Minister to arrange for the payment of the balance as quickly as possible. As Deputy Treacy said, we know the situation. Our farmers over the last year and in the first half of this year have suffered losses and their situation is serious. One could itemise the problems under the headings of acute fodder shortage, severe flooding, particularly in the Shannon Valley area, loss of livestock, loss of crops and low milk yields.
Regarding the financial situation, the Minister is aware that farmers have serious problems in repayments to financial institutions. Some farmers are bankrupt. For that reason we want to get these payments out as quickly as possible. With all these schemes, ewe premium, cattle headage, or whatever, are we getting the full benefit which is available from the EC? In Northern Ireland and in other countries in the EC the payments have increased. The Minister should clarify that. The position was very well outlined in a document produced by the IFA and launched last November. It related totally to the western counties and talked about the low farm incomes there. The stark reality is stated in the first sentence which tells that two thirds of the farmers in the west live in relative poverty. The recent findings by the Agricultural Institute in their book Marginalisation in Irish Agriculture reveal that the number of farmers living in poverty is increasing alarmingly.
After last year's atrocious weather conditions which continued into the first half of this year, it is important that all help possible be given to them particularly through the type of schemes we are talking about here. I compliment the Minister and his staff on the early inspections which were carried out, but obviously what is needed urgently is the payment of the premiums.
I referred in the House previously to the way in which farmers in the west depend on assistance, probably more so this year after the losses of 1985. Yet I have been informed in replies to questions I put to the Minister for Social Welfare that a total of 7,475 smallholders have either had their payments reduced or have lost them completely. The loss of social welfare payments has affected farmers' incomes. In Galway, Mayo and Roscommon 1,400 farmers have suffered as a result of the loss of social welfare payments.
The points made in various agricultural debates in the House and by the IFA concerning the Shannon Valley demonstrated the need to increase headage payments by 30 per cent and to pay them immediately. There should also be interest free loans, an extension of the feed voucher scheme and fertiliser subsidies, which are important in trying to help farmers in very difficult circumstances. The ewe premium should be paid as quickly as possible and I hope the Minister has good news about it.
The chief economist in the IFA indicated recently that farmers will suffer an 8 per cent drop in their incomes even if the weather improves. Every assistance should be given to them through the schemes available. I hope that the Minister will indicate that we are getting the full permissible payments, not only in regard to the ewe premium but all the other available payments also.
The Deputies raised so many points that we would need much more time than that at our disposal to discuss them. However, I covered many of the points raised over the last three or four months and time will not permit me to go over them again.
I have good news in regard to the ewe premium scheme as I commenced payment last week——
Where?
To date, 10,500 flock owners have been paid £8.3 million. There are about 33,000 flock owners and I hope that over the next 14 to 15 days the remainder will be paid. This is worth about £40 million, the biggest single payment ever made under this heading. I made a number of changes in the scheme last year and this year. One was in relation to earlier inspection and I wish to congratulate my officials for achieving this, especially when one considers the total number of individual payments which have to be made by the Department through a plethora of schemes. We wisely decided that because of bad weather last January we would make an advance payment of £4,90 per ewe. As Deputies are aware, there are always a number of problem cases and when one realises that there have been 33,000 individual payments, with all the paper work that involves, it is obvious that there will be problems in regard to a very small number. However, we will do our best to solve these problems and 99 per cent will get their money within the next fortnight.
The ewe premium scheme has nothing to do with headage payments as it is a deficiency payment to compensate for the price of lamb on the Paris market. It has increased quite dramatically over the last couple of years — from 92p in 1981 to £16.74 at present. It is one of the factors in making sheep farming profitable and has a number of great advantages. It applies all over the country and there are no off-farm income limits imposed on it. The sheep trade admit that if this payment was not available profitability would be in question.
Many Deputies and farming organisations ask me regularly why we cannot make payments more quickly. The problem is that there is a 100 day retention period laid down by the EC and in our case that period runs from 15 March to 24 June. During that period all the inspections must be carried out and you cannot make any payments before 24 June. We started payments on 25 June——
In what areas have payments been made?
I do not know.
Those in County Galway have not been paid.
The Deputy should not worry as they will be paid very soon. As I said, we started to make payments on 25 June and this is the first time that they have been made so quickly. I fully appreciate the problems, but it should be noted that the big bureaucratic system in Agriculture House can react quickly to them. I sincerely hope that the injection of £40 million into the agricultural community will be of great benefit and that the problems facing farmers will be offset to some degree by this payment. I hope that the rest of the summer will bring better weather, although there is a fair degree of growth at present and most of the crops look quite good. I am sure that the quality of winter fodder will be much better than last year.
If a man had to dispose of ten or 20 ewes to meet fodder or financial commitments how is he affected?
The position is that if ewes were killed by dogs he would be compensated but if he had to destroy them himself obviously the Department would have to look into the matter. This is an EC scheme and we have very little discretion in regard to payments. However, if people are affected in that way, I want to hear about it. I meet hundreds of people every week and no one has ever made that complaint to me, but if it comes up I will deal with it.
The Dáil adjourned at 11.25 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 3 July 1986.