With your permission, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I would like to allocate one minute of my time to Deputy Ahearn.
Adjournment Debate. - Beef Premium Scheme.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
The special beef premium has for several years formed a much needed supplement to beef farmers' incomes. I was the Minister responsible for having this premium introduced in December 1986.
Well done.
The present rate of payment is about £35 per head up to a maximum of 90 cattle. All in all we understand that as many as 8,000 beef farmers have been denied payment in respect of the year 1990 where this premium is concerned. The form is quite explicit and there should not have been any problem but, first and foremost, we are not a great nation of form-fillers and many people who made minor mistakes are paying dearly for doing so. The biggest problem with regard to the payment of this premium is that if one sells any cattle within two months of an application one is automatically disqualified from receiving the premium in respect of any of the herd. This is the kernel of the problem.
In my constituency I have had approaches from as many as 50 farmers in the past couple of months who have been disqualified from receiving this premium. This is causing considerable difficulty. If one takes an average of 25 cattle in a herd affected and about 8,000 farmers one can see we are losing £6 million or £7 million in the country: the State is losing that amount of EC money.
The Minister should request the EC Commission to allow applications where it can be clearly proven that the cattle were got rid of within the two months and where the sale can be proved through documentation. That should not be too difficult. It would certainly ease the plight of the people who are being disqualified. I am aware that the farming organisations have made a similar plea and I do not know what has been the response. I do not know if the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy O'Kennedy, has taken up the matter with the Commission in Brussels. If not, I would appreciate if he would do so. I would like to know whether an application for an easing of the regulations has been made to the Commission in Brussels.
Where there is documentary evidence of the sale within the two months the premium should be paid. It amounts to a considerable amount of money for some farmers. They badly need the money and they can ill afford the loss. It is unfair and unwise that people should be disqualified from receiving fairly considerable amounts of money over a minor technicality.
I wish to thank Deputy Deasy for allowing me to share his time. The rigid operation of the special beef premium scheme is causing anger and frustration and, most important, is causing hardship to farmers. We will have to accept that the administration of the scheme is far too severe and rigid, to such an extent that absolutely no flexibility is allowed.
The difficulties with the scheme can be seen from the fact that up to 8,000 farmers, as Deputy Deasy has said, will lose out in payments because of minor technicalities. Undoubtedly that proves there is need for more flexibility and a change in the scheme as administered at present. If one looks at the scheme one can describe it as nothing other than a fiasco. In this day and age of declining incomes it is appalling that farmers who have no intention of not abiding by the rules and find themselves in such severe financial hardship that they have to sell animals are shown no compassion or flexibility in the dealing of their cases. Farmers who have come to me have shown an alarming lack of information regarding the rules of the scheme. It is very hard for farmers in the south to accept this considering that the rules for eligibility under the scheme are more flexible and less rigid in Northern Ireland. Unfortunately, the problem is compounded by the enormous delays by the Department of Agriculture and Food in paying out the grants. This is unfair, unjust and uncaring because in many cases the payment of the grant is the difference between survival or collapse for the farmers. The Minister must look at this scheme very closely and demand flexibility.
I would like to thank Deputy Deasy and Deputy Ahearn for raising this matter. I am aware of the problems being faced by a number of farmers, including a number of farmers in Cork South-West.
In the Minister's own constituency.
They will be known to my colleague Deputy Sheehan as well.
They are all over the country.
I am aware of the difficulty for farmers who fail to adhere to the terms and conditions of the 1990 special beef premium scheme and who suffered disqualification or losses as a result. The main reason for the refusal of the 1990 special beef premium was the failure of applicants to respect the two month retention period which is a condition of the relevant regulation.
The Commission agreed to allow Ireland a large degree of flexibility in operating this scheme this year given that we were changing from a full-time on farm inspection system to part-time inspections. Because it is an EC scheme they were adamant that the two month retention period should be respected. I am not terribly satisfied with the way the premium scheme operates. I want to confirm that a case is being processed at present to the Commission to have the conditions changed for the future. I give an undertaking that that will be processed in a very positive way and I hope that the outcome will be satisfactory all round.
Can anything be done for the 1990 applicants?
That will certainly be taken into account in the processing of our application in the Commission.
Will it be retrospective?
I do not know.