Michael Creed
Question:130 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a person (details supplied) in County Cork is entitled to an income supplement for the period September 1995 to February 1996. [15609/97]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
The position is that the holding of the person named was depopulated in September 1995 and depopulation grants have issued in respect of same. Income supplement is not paid in instances where a holding is depopulated.
Michael P. Kitt
Question:131 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when a farm installation grant will be paid to a person (details supplied) in County Galway. [15665/97]
The applicant in this case has been deemed ineligible under the conditions applying to both the 1986 and 1990 schemes. He was advised of this by Teagasc in a letter, dated 9 May 1995 at which time the appropriate fee was refunded.
Ulick Burke
Question:132 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of REP scheme files currently awaiting payment in the regional inspector's office in Galway; the number of appeals under the scheme currently in this office; if he will give a breakdown of the number of appeals from participants upheld or rejected by district superintendents, the appeals board and the regional inspectors. [15672/97]
There are 75 cases under the REP scheme being processed in the regional office in Galway; 61 of these are subject to prepayment check by the inspectorate and 14 are with the regional inspector and are being processed in the normal way. There are seven appeals currently being processed for the Galway area.
A district superintendent may apply a penalty on a participant for failing to comply with his undertakings under the scheme. In that event, the participant is afforded ten days in which to seek a review of the decision. The district superintendent may uphold his decision, reduce the penalty or waive it. Where the district superintendent reviews his decision and decides to uphold it or reduce the penalty, he advises the participant of his right of appeal to the appeals committee. There have been 127 such appeals dealt with to date. In 70 of these cases the decisions have been upheld by the committee, in 13 instances the penalties have been reduced, and in 44 cases the penalties have been overturned.
Ulick Burke
Question:133 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are a number of cases in the REP scheme whereby people joined under the original terms and conditions of the REP scheme, satisfied all the criteria required, were paid and currently find that the second and third year payments are stopped as his Department attempts to apply the new terms and conditions retrospectively; if he will give details of the membership of the REP scheme appeals board; the way in which it operates; and the number of times this board meets. [15673/97]
The REP scheme commenced in 1994 and operated under a set of agri-environmental specifications published at that time. Subsequently in the light of experience a number of improvements and clarifications were incorporated into a revised version of the agri-environmental specifications which took effect from 15 May 1996. However, applications received in my Department prior to the issue of the revised specifications are dealt with in accordance with the original version which was applicable at the time of joining REPS. The revised specifications are applied only if a revised REPS plan has been submitted by such applicants subsequent to the implementation of the revised agri-environmental specifications. Many applicants have availed of the new specifications in this way. My Department has not applied the new specifications and conditions retrospectively.
REPS is operated on an up front payment system, made on trust that the terms and conditions of the scheme and the specifications will be complied with by the applicant. An essential control feature of that system involves widespread checking of compliance by farmers with their plan and a 5 per cent compliance check of plans with the specifications.
The REP scheme appeals committee is comprised of three officials of my Department who review individual appeals of penalties imposed following control inspections carried out prior to payment. If a penalty is imposed during the processing of a REPS application the farmer is notified of this penalty. The first option open to the applicant is to seek a review of the case in the Department's local office. If the penalty is not withdrawn an appeal can be lodged in the Environment Section of my Department. Following the receipt of such an appeal, an acknowledgment is issued and the case is referred to the relevant regional inspector. The regional inspector investigates each case and makes a recommendation to the committee. At that stage the committee considers the merits of the case and issues a decision on the appeal. The farmer is then notified of this decision. All stages of the appeal procedure are independent of the original decision making process and all aspects of the appeal are considered objectively by the committee.
The individual members are a senior inspector, an agricultural inspector and an assistant principal officer. The frequency of committee meetings depends on the number of appeals received. The committee has sat on 12 occasions since the first meeting on 10 January 1997.