Deputy Austin Deasy gave me notice of his intention to raise on the Adjournment the subject matter of the extension of County Waterford as a disadvantaged area. The Deputy has six minutes and the Minister has three minutes.
Adjournment Debate. - County Waterford Designation as Disadvantaged Area.
I thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this question on the Adjournment. It is over a year since an official application was lodged with the Commission in Brussels for an extension of the disadvantaged areas scheme to the whole of Ireland. I am particularly anxious this evening to see that that application is passed with regard to my own constituency in County Waterford.
Originally the proposal which was put before the Commission in Brussels from the previous Government on 4 February 1987 would have cost £15 million for the whole of Ireland with a reimbursement rate of 50 per cent which would mean that, while it would cost £15 million in the initial year, £7.5 million of that could be reimbursed in the subsequent year. We are told that the application was not well received in Brussels because it did not take account of modulation, which as we understand it, means that there should be a graded system of disadvantaged areas in the country going from seriously disadvantaged to moderately disadvantaged to where only sheep headage would be paid.
Nevertheless, I do not believe that this Government have pursued the application with sufficient diligence. I believe that it was as late as November last before a renewed application was put forward to the Commission. The Commission, in the meantime, had expressed reservations about the original application, but I do feel there should have been more urgency in putting forward that renewed application. It is extremely urgent that the application should be pursued now because, as a result of the European Council meeting in February last, the funds which will be available for regional and structural development are to be not just increased but doubled by 1993.
It is imperative that we get in our scheme in good time to see that we are able to avail of that tremendous amount of money, because Ireland is one of the regions which could be singled out for special treatment. I have always been an advocate of exerting the greatest pressure possible at the earliest stage in order to get moneys when they become available. We got extra concessions in Brussels in 1985, one of the very wet years when, because of the bad weather, Brussels came up with extra structural or regional funds specifically for the disadvantaged areas. Now with the doubling of the funds there must be tremendous potential for Ireland to get a considerable extra share.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food has already indicated that headage payments could increase by as much as 70 or 75 per cent of the total cost. When I say that I mean that of the funds being paid, 70 to 75 per cent can be recouped from the EC Commission with the doubling of these funds. As well as that, a considerably greater area of this country can be included under the disadvantaged areas scheme. In the application that went into Brussels in 1987 I submitted that all areas which were presently classified as being moderately disadvantaged should be graded to seriously disadvantaged. As well as that areas where sheep headage is presently paid should also be classified as seriously disadvantaged. This would give a tremendous increase in the area of this country which would qualify for the maximum payments from Brussels.
The last review which was agreed upon by Brussels resulted in the largest increase in disadvantaged areas under the disadvantaged areas scheme here. It was the fourth review and it was a tremendous increase which was passed in 1985 and we brought in a tremendous extra amount of land. If the proposals which we put forward last year were implemented, there would be a massive extra amount of land here considered for a higher rate of grant payment from Brussels. I am specifically interested in a large segment of my own county. I want to see areas like Knockanore, Toornaneena, Kill, Dunhill, Fenor, the general Drumhill area including Moonamean which is at present moderately handicapped and also large portions of the Barony of Gaultier.
That is a fair travelogue of the constituency and remember, A Cheann Comhairle, I did not get around to mentioning any individual by name, so I think I am quite within my rights. All of those areas were due to receive considerable attention under the new scheme which was put forward to Brussels. The areas at present included comprised primarily the foothills of the Comeragh and Knock-mealdown Mountains. I want to see these additional areas where the land is not very good in most cases included as quickly as possible.
I want to bring in the Minister as soon as possible.
Let me point out that if the Minister and the Government and the EC Commission are interested in modulation they might well consider that all the land of Ireland should be considered as disadvantaged in some way.
I must call the Minister now.
Let the areas which are being put forward now be designated as seriously disadvantaged and let the remainder of the country be regarded as moderately disadvantaged. That should be a perfectly acceptable proposal.
I would like to thank Deputy Deasy for his contribution this evening. The Deputy was Minister for Agriculture when the original application to the Commission was made on 4 February 1987 and that application was made after he had been Minister for all of four years. He is telling us tonight about the urgency. I am not disagreeing with that. We are really only talking about a relatively short period of time since the original application was made in the first place. If the Deputy felt it was necessary to make it earlier he should have done so.
We had one in 1985.
The original application was made on 4 February 1987. The Commission's reply indicated that the proposed across-the-board change did not meet the requirement in the basic EC Directive that the level of compensatory allowances should be fixed in accordance with the degree of severity of the permanent natural handicaps. This ruled out the payment of uniform rates of headage grants throughout all our disadvantaged areas so, unfortunately, at that time it was found to be unacceptable by the Commission.
In the light of the reply of the Commission the Government subsequently approved a modification of the original proposal to provide for a restructuring of the disadvantaged areas scheme in a manner which should meet the objections that had been raised. The new proposal was subsequently lodged with the Commission in November last. It included a case for improved FEOGA financing of the disadvantaged areas scheme as operated here and in addition it dealt with the matter of the extension of the disadvantaged areas. The improved financing arrangements sought would enable the proposed provisions of the scheme to be financed without any additional burden on the Exchequer and certainly, as the Deputy will understand, it is the key element in the restructuring proposals put to the Commission.
A reply was received to the proposal from the Commission in February last. A subsequent reply from the Department went back last month. The reply to the proposal indicated a positive orientation on the revised proposals. They were concerned about a number of aspects of headage schemes as operated here. In addition, they stated that they had no immediate plans to propose a higher rate of reimbursement from FEOGA for headage payments in Ireland. Since then the overall position in regard to the Community financial participation in schemes of this kind has changed because of the February European Council decision on the whole area of structural funds.
I am very sorry to interrupt the Minister but I would be grateful if he would conclude.
We will obviously keep in mind the sentiments the Deputy has expressed. I know he is keenly aware of the requirements in Waterford and in other areas of the country.
I would put in a large portion of the Cooley Peninsula.
The Dáil adjourned at 5.30 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 26 April 1988.