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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 23 Apr 1998

Vol. 490 No. 1

Other Questions. - Area Aid Scheme.

Paul Connaughton

Question:

8 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will give consideration to staff from his Department meeting farmers, who have serious problems with area aid maps, at local livestock offices around the country; and if he will acknowledge that it is very difficult to solve many of these problems either by telephone or letter to his Department. [9397/98]

I am making special arrangements to enable farmers, who have questions or difficulties about the completion of their 1998 area aid application forms, to be given advice and guidance at their local livestock offices. Staff in those offices have been made aware of the requirements for completing the forms and this procedure is being put in place to avoid subsequent errors on applications. Very considerable progress has also been made on simplifying the application forms.

I thank the Minister for using local livestock offices for dealing with the 1998 area aid application forms, but that is not what the question is about. I accept the Minister is doing his best and I pay tribute to the staff in the area aid unit in Hume House. Farmers who have occasion to go to that office are well looked after.

For the first time since the Griffith valuation we are engaged in a process of remapping the entire country. We made an attempt to do this some ten or 12 years ago, for a different reason. Regardless of the efficiency of the digitisation programme, it will take a long time to get every acre of land correctly on a map and in the meantime many people face serious difficulties.

A question, Deputy.

I have had occasion, like other Deputies, to bring people to Hume House who were experiencing problems with their maps. This should not be necessary. Trained staff should be recruited in local offices to examine maps. It is ridiculous that people from Ballinasloe and elsewhere have to take a bus to Dublin to argue their case in Hume House. Because of the intricacies of maps, these difficulties cannot be resolved over the telephone or by letter. Trained staff in local offices, who would have a direct link to Hume House, could assist people with their problems. This would alleviate much of the frustration in a week or two. The Minister should adopt a similar strategy to that which he has adopted for the 1998 area aid applications forms.

Question Time is not an occasion for making statements or imparting information to the Minister. It is purely for getting information and asking supplementary questions. The Adjournment Debate gives Members a five minute opportunity to state their cases and it should be used for this type of question. We cannot allow long statements to be made at Question Time.

Despite the Ceann Comhairle's admonishment, Deputy Connaughton made some valuable points about an extremely difficult and complex area.

He would make a good Minister for Agriculture and Food.

It has been an almost intractable problem up to now. The staff in Hume House and local offices go out of their way to help farmers and this can mean unsocial and weekend work. They have to deal with applications as well as complaints and problems that arise. Some of the outside agencies which were enlisted to assist in the digitisation programme also experienced teething problems.

That is correct.

We want to start with a clean sheet. I have already given a commitment that in four weeks' time there will not be a backlog for 1998. Local offices have already held talks with senior officials in the Department to brief them on what is required when farmers go into the local offices with problems. I hope that within a relatively short time computerisation will mean a direct link between Hume House and local offices and that difficulties relating to maps and farms can be dealt with in the local office with the minimum of frustration for the applicant and maximum efficiency as far as payment is concerned. Difficulties lead to a vicious circle of more complaints and queries which takes up more time.

It also leads to more parliamentary questions.

Parliamentary questions take up a lot of time.

If we cannot get an answer over the telephone we have to try to get it some other way.

A diligent Deputy representing a farming constituency would be less than fair to his constituents if he or she did not make the best possible representations. The matter is being addressed in a serious manner. Additional resources, staff and technical support have been made available. I hope when I take questions in the House again, probably in a month's time, I will be able to report considerable progress.

The Minister should recruit staff trained in this area in local offices.

How much money is owed to farmers because of the difficulties with maps? I support my colleague on the need for personnel at local level to deal with area aid maps.

Balancing payments are due to 19,700 farmers. Under the charter of rights, the final date on which we are legally obliged to make those payments is 30 June. We hope to be in a position to make the payments much sooner. At any rate, they will be paid within the next four weeks.

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