Vol. 467 No. 7
389 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of applications received to date under the REP scheme; the number of applicants who were paid the first instalment; the amount paid under the first instalment; the number of applicants who were paid the second instalment; the amount paid under the second instalment; and the number of applicants awaiting payment under the second instalment. [14270/96]
To date over 16,500 farmers have been approved for first year payments amounting to £58 million under the scheme and a further 1,500 applications, approximately, are being processed at present in the Department's local offices.
The number of farmers who had completed their first year in REPS on 31 May 1996 is 3,220. Following the implementation of more stringent control measures and the revision to the REPS specifications, arrangements were in train to deal with the backlog in three tranches viz:
—14 May — 1994 applicants (309)
—31 May — applicants due second year payments up to 31 March 1996 (1,450), and
—28 June — all remaining applicants due second year payments.
Lists of those participants who joined the scheme in 1994 were issued to the Department's local offices on 14 May 1996 to facilitate farmer compliance checks. A total of 309 participants were involved of which up to now only 190 have had payments amounting to £517,000, and only two had been paid by 31 May. Talks are taking place between the Department and the union involved in the industrial action. Significant progress has been made in these talks and it is hoped that the dispute will be resolved shortly allowing compliance checks for the 1,450 participants who were due second year payments up to 1 April 1996. It is intended to commence checks on other participants who are now due second year payments by the end of the month.
