Deputy Tom Fitzpatrick gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the question of designating all of Counties Cavan and Monaghan a severely disadvantaged area for headage grant purposes. As the time is limited I suggest that Deputy Fitzpartick be allocated nine minutes and the Minister five minutes to reply.
Adjournment Debate. - Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.
I should like to thank the Chair for giving me permission to raise the question of the inclusion of all Cavan and Monaghan in the severely handicapped areas scheme and I should like to thank the Minister for coming to the House to listen to me. I hope he will be able to give the undertakings I will be seeking. Cavan and Monaghan were classified as disadvantaged areas in 1973 and a number of revisions of the classification occurred between 1973 and 1981.
I should like to ask the Members who are engaging in conversation to do so outside the Chamber.
Very few additions were made to the severely handicapped areas in those counties beyond those designated in 1973. Further additions were made between 1985 and 1986. Following the dreadful summer of 1986, the previous Government decided to go to Brussels with a package. In August of that year the EC were requested to double the headage payment for 1986 and to reclassify 2.7 million acres which had been classified as disadvantaged as severely handicapped. The previous Government requested the EC to accept responsibility for a recoupment of up to 75 per cent of the cost instead of 50 per cent.
Between August and Christmas of 1986 weekly meetings were held between the civil servants of the Department of Agriculture and EC officials in Brussels in an effort to work out a formal application and agree on the terms. In mid-January the matter was brought before the Council of Ministers by the previous Minister for Agriculture, Deputy Deasy, and the Commissioner for Agriculture, Commissioner Andriessan undertook to expedite the Irish application. There seems to be some difference as to whether it was lodged on 16 January or 4 February, but it does not matter very much because it was brought up at the Council of Ministers in mid-January and may not have been lodged formally for a few days after that. It had been before the Commission in Brussels informally since August 1986.
I intervened in this matter today because I was unhappy at the statements or noises which have been coming from the Minister for Agriculture and Food since he assumed office. He complained that it had not been included in the Book of Estimates and I got the impression that the new Minister was finding an excuse not to pay the headage payments this year, which payments had been publicly guaranteed by the Minister for Agriculture. I do not think I am being unfair to my Fianna Fáil colleagues in Cavan-Monaghan when I say that during the election campaign they undertook to stand over the assurances given by the Minister for Agriculture.
Now there is the question of funding and the people who have charge of the purse are the Government. The budget was introduced yesterday and until then no provision had been made for funding any scheme for 1987. The Minister for Agriculture and Food complained it was not included in the Book of Estimates. That may be so but it is not usual to include additions to existing schemes affecting old age pensions or matters of that kind in the Book of Estimates. If it was thought it should be included in the Book of Estimates, a paragraph could have been put in the budget speech yesterday saying that the additional classification was on its way and that it would be covered by a Supplementary Estimate. There is no problem about a Supplementary Estimate. Last year the Supplementary Estimate for Agriculture amounted to £37 million. The entire amount involved here is only £4 million for the two counties I am speaking about and £15 million for the entire country.
Time does not permit me to go into this matter in as much detail as I should like or to spell out the case as clearly as I would wish. I am speaking on behalf of the people of Cavan-Monaghan and it is too bad that my colleague, Deputy Andrew Boylan, who also represents Fine Gael in Cavan-Monaghan, will not have an opportunity of speaking. Neither will Deputy Farrelly who represents Meath. I am telling the Minister for Agriculture and Food that there is nothing to prevent him paying these headage payments this year. They are not normally paid until the November to February period and there is nothing to prevent him paying them then. Nor is there anything to prevent him from introducing a Supplementary Estimate to cover the amount. If he does so, he will have the support of this side of the House. He can find adjustments in his Department, as is often done. He will have savings here and over-expenditure there and he can find the money to make these necessary payments.
I will confine myself to the facts in replying to the statement from Deputy Fitzpatrick. The facts are as follows. Irrespective of what conversation may have taken place at a Council of Ministers meeting or any informal contact with any Commissioner, no application was submitted to the Commission of the European Communities until the Dáil was already dissolved. The application was submitted on 4 February. In respect of conversations that might have taken place in corridors or at Council meetings, the Deputy may not be aware that nothing of this nature arises in the context of price negotiations or Council considerations. Unless and until an application is submitted to the Commission the matter is not even before the Commission, much less before the Council, and therefore casual comments that may have been made at a Council meeting are of no relevance.
Does the Minister want to do it?
The plain fact is that despite the congratulations lavished on the former Minister for Agriculture by both the Cavan and Monaghan County Councils during the course of the election campaign, no application was submitted by the administration to Brussels in this respect before the Dáil was dissolved on 4 February. In case Deputies and the people they represent may feel a special case was being made for Cavan-Monaghan even on 4 February, I have to tell them that was not the case. The case submitted on 4 February affected 22 of the 26 counties. The only four counties not included were already severely handicapped areas, namely Donegal, Mayo, Sligo and Letirim. Let it be stated that no special case was ever made for Cavan-Monaghan by the outgoing administration in respect of reclassification. The inference all the time is that there was.
(Interruptions.)
The case is in Brussels. What does the Minister propose to do about it?
I should be allowed to put the facts on the record. Quite consistent with the failure to make any application until the Dáil was dissolved in the full knowledge that no decision could be reached, no provision was made in the Estimates to back up any reclassification.
There was nothing there from the fodder scheme in 1985.
I will now put that in context, despite the fact that a Deputy with the experience of Deputy Tom Fitzpatrick seems to say there is no problem about reallocating money. He must know that is unrealistic in the current context.
(Interruptions.)
I insist on stating the facts.
Is the Minister committed to working for the Irish farmers?
Allow the Minister to complete his statement without further interruption. His time is very limited.
In relation to the present proposal to reclassify all of the existing less severely handicapped and mountain sheep areas, the cost in the first two years of operation would be of the order of £30 million, of which only £7.5 million would be recouped from the Community in those years. This would mean that in the first two years the figure of £23 million for headage payments would have to be provided by the national Exchequer. Clearly Deputies opposite did not make provision for one red halfpenny and there could not be anything which would involve a payment in two years of £7.5 million from the Commission.
I am still going to do all possible to make up for all the failures of the previous Government and the next time a Minister for Agriculture is congratulated in Cavan-Monaghan people will know a little more about the facts. Nothing had been done.
The Dáil adjourned at 11 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 2 April 1987.