asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when the house improvement scheme under the western package will be introduced; if his attention has been drawn to the number of farmers who will be availing of this scheme and who await this announcement in order to carry out repairs to their houses which are greatly in need of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - House Improvement Scheme.
8.
The measures aimed at improving the living conditions of farm families and at improving their incomes through non-farm enterprises envisaged under the revised western package have already been implemented under the agri-tourism scheme which I announced last April. Grants are available under this scheme to farmers in the less favoured areas of the country for the up-grading and expansion of visitor accommodation in farmhouses specifically where such investment forms part of an overall agri-tourism project.
It was clearly understood when the western package was announced a few years ago that there was a specific grant of £5,000 for the repair of farm dwellings in need of urgent improvements to bring them up to the standard that people would normally expect now. Is this grant still available or were we misled about this grant?
When I introduced that initiative it was a new and necessary development. We are adhering to that scheme. Grants of up to 20 per cent are available for upgrading or expansion of visitor accommodation where the cost of providing this increase in accommodation does not exceed 25 per cent of the entire cost of an agri-tourism project. It is and should be of great benefit to farm families in the agri-tourism programme.
We are still not getting the answer we are seeking. A specific announcement was made that there was a grant of £5,000 included in this package.
We are having repetition. It is a luxury we cannot afford at Question Time.
Before that announcement there was another scheme in operation, introduced by the previous Government, which gave a £5,000 house improvement grant. As a result of the announcement of the western package many farmers did not apply for the house improvement grant because they thought this was a better scheme. Is the Minister now saying that there is no house improvement scheme of any description? The scheme brought in by the previous Government was abolished and are we now saying that this one has been dropped?
I am not the Minister responsible for the Department of the Environment and the housing grants scheme generally.
You are a member of the Government.
I am responsible for new schemes which I introduce. I would remind the House that under one of those new schemes introduced to upgrade potential tourist accommodation in rural Ireland as part of the agri-tourism package, there was no ceiling put beyond the ceiling of 20 per cent of the entire cost. This figure of £5,000 does not arise.
The Minister has just said that it relates to a tourist business. The Minister should not give the impression that it is a straight grant——
Questions, please.
——for farmers because the majority of the investment would have to be related to tourism projects.
The Deputy is continuing to make a statement.
So long as the Minister makes it absolutely clear he will not be misleading anybody.
In my reply I specifically stated that. I do not see the need to try to confuse things by suggesting that I stated otherwise.
(Interruptions.)
The Minister was confusing.
I will call the Deputies offering if they will be brief.
I welcome the scheme and hope it can be expanded. Will the Minister agree to examine the possibility of expanding the scheme not just to certain geographical areas but throughout the country? I am sure the Minister is aware that there are areas outside the present designated areas which will benefit from this scheme as well.
I appreciate what the Deputy says and I understand his concern. There is another question here which will indicate that that is my intention.
Will the Minister say, in relation to this grant, if there has been a disappointing take-up in the numbers applying?
We should all be encouraged by the take-up of the western package generally.
That is a different story. The Bord Fáilte offices are fed up with it already.
(Interruptions.)
The Minister has been asked some pertinent questions. Let us hear his reply.
I am anxious to reply. In this as in other areas the take-up has been very satisfactory and encouraging. We will endeavour, when we get the whole national programme in place with the assistance of Bord Fáilte, to give a major boost to this because it is a new scheme and not everyone is as yet aware of the significance of it.
(Interruptions.)
I have not got a reply to my question. There are hundreds of people down there who want to know what happened to this proposal.
Please, Deputy Boylan, resume your seat.
It is grossly unfair——
Deputy Boylan, resume your seat.
——that we are not allowed to get an answer.
Deputy Boylan, I will ask you, for the third time, to resume your seat.
(Interruptions.)