Thank you for giving me an opportunity to raise a matter which is causing widespread unrest and dissatisfaction among farmers, particularly in the west. I am shocked that in this day of so-called, overall management techniques which are supposed to exist in the Department of Agriculture, it is necessary to suspend this useful scheme of pollution control from 14 April. I am sure that telephone calls to the Minister's office have indicated the depths of frustration in the country.
I acknowledge that the scheme was one of the best introduced for quite a long time. I have to accept that it is not the first time the Department of Agriculture have done something like this but why was the impression given to every farmer who wanted to control pollution that the EC funded grant would be available for the duration of the five year programme? Why, half-way through the period, did the Minister's office ring all the FDS offices around the country and instruct them not to take any more applications? It would not be so bad if a date had been given and that any applications sent to the office by that date would be eligible for the grant, but the decision was much worse. It meant that farmers who had made an application, who in certain cases had made deals with their bank managers and who had visits from departmental officials, having applied for planning permission, are now in limbo. They do not know whether their applications will be accepted.
Will people who have already received approval be allowed to go ahead with their plans? Will the Minister also outline the position in regard to people who have approval but who had to apply for planning permission which has not yet been granted? I also understand — correct me if I am wrong — that it is intended to write to people who have outstanding approvals and to give them three months in which to complete the job. Failure to do so will mean they will not get the grant which will be redistributed to others on the waiting list. I am not criticising the concept of ensuring that a farmer will not have approval for an undue length of time but why was it necessary to suspend the scheme? The officials in the Department must have known the number of people who were in receipt of grants and they must have been able to monitor exactly what was happening. Why was it necessary to bring down this blunt instrument on 14 April just before the silage season? I do not have to inform the Minister of how important this time of the year is to farmers. It was a very insensitive decision which will mean that people will not bother trying to control pollution. This will even apply to those who were visited by a fisheries inspector and a member of the local authority to ensure that there would be no pollution——
