Vol. 468 No. 4
855 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the action, if any, he will take to ensure immediate payment of second phase REP scheme applications and to clear the backlog of those awaiting first payment. [15305/96]
856 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of organic farmers who have had their second REP scheme payments approved; and the number of applicants in County Clare who have had compliance checks at this time. [15307/96]
857 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the number of farmers in County Clare awaiting first and second REP scheme payments; and the current delay period for persons awaiting first payment. [15308/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 855, 856 and 857 together. Under revised monitoring and control procedures implemented by my Department recently, compliance checks are required to ensure that farmers have completed the specific works outlined during the first year of the plan before second year payments can be made. Some delays have occurred in processing second year payments mainly due to industrial action in the Department's local offices. The dispute has now been resolved and measures are being taken to clear any backlog that has occurred. This resulted in a four month processing delay in County Clare.
In County Clare 317 participants are awaiting their first instalment under the REP scheme and 50 participants are awaiting a second instalment under the scheme. To date one compliance check has been carried out on second year applicants in the county. The number of organic farmers who have been approved for second year payment is ten.
