Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Jun 1998

Vol. 492 No. 4

Written Answers. - Rural Environment Protection Scheme.

Liz McManus

Question:

152 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the regulations or guidelines, if any, governing the level of charges that may be imposed by private planners in regard to the REP scheme; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some planners have significantly increased their charges and, in some cases, they can charge up to £700 for an initial plan, when the procedure can often consist of little more than submitting an ordnance survey map; if he will consider regulating these charges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14147/98]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The level of charges imposed by planners in connection with services provided to participants in the rural environment protection scheme — REPS — is essentially a matter between the planner and the farmer. The role of my Department consists of ensuring that there is an adequate number of approved REPS planners. There are currently over 950 REPS planners either working individually or with private approved agencies and Teagasc. The compilation of a REPS plan requires the planner to draw up a comprehensive five year agri-environmental plan which addresses the management of the holding in some detail under a number of headings, along with provision of a map of the lands farmed. Therefore, I do not consider that there is a necessity to regulate charges at this time.

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

153 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of 5 per cent compliance inspections per planning agency per year. [14148/98]

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

154 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of 50 per cent compliance inspections per planning agency per year. [14149/98]

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

155 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of applications per planning agency per year. [14150/98]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 153, 154 and 155 together.

The total number of applications per planning agency per year is set out in the following list. The exact numbers of 50 per cent compliance and 5 per cent prepayment checks carried out per agency per year are not readily available.

Cases for checking are selected centrally on a monthly basis at random from the list of applicants who are due payments. A 50 per cent sample is chosen from those who are due a second or subsequent payment and inspections are carried out to ensure compliance with the farmer's agri-environmental plan. The checks are carried out subsequent to submission by the participant of an application for payment.

Pre-payment inspections are carried out on 5 per cent of new applicants and on 5 per cent of those applying for second and subsequent payments. The main purpose of this check is to ensure that the farmer's agri-environmental plan has been prepared in accordance with the Department's agri-environmental specifications, but it also involves an on farm visit for second and subsequent years' applications.

REPS Planning Agencies — Number of plans submitted per Annum

Agency	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
1	3	77	71	50	16
2	2	148	208	114	66
3	2	155	128	117	59
4	2	116	70	43	25
5	8	142	121	122	38
6	13	183	187	97	21
7		103	251	220	77
8		219	289	198	117
9	4	159	145	132	56
10		140	96	89	45
11		53	82	47	23
12		247	335	331	190
13	1	111	58	45	15
14		122	184	78	33
15	2	227	256	162	75
16		47	44	48	14
17	3	216	160	72	40
18	13	197	117	108	49
19	3	105	73	51	21
20		89	127	181	53
21	3	335	441	312	165
22	1	20	33	19	6
23		140	150	110	47
24		16	15	174	50
25	4	388	385	166	79
26		291	518	345	129
27		39	108	54	26
28	2	79	68	50	13
29					1
30					4
31				2	2
32		12	3	10	6
33			8	24	10
34		5	4	1	1
35		8	2
36	1	13	5	4	2
37				1
38		2	1		1
39		2		1
40			18	4	2
41		2		2	1
42				11	1
43			4
44	40	118	24
45		10	8	12	2
46	8	38	32	14	7
47		1	2	1
48		11	17	13	2
49	7	38	26	21	3
50	5	29	23	23	6
51		24	74	27	7
52	2	34	27	18	11
53		3	1
54		33	40	19	6
55		5	5	1	1
56		6	6	9	7
57		11	7	1
58				1
59	1	202	365	290	22
60	3	8	4	2	4
61	41	121	46	23	12
62		2	1
63			2
64		2	5	3	6
65	11	60	59	47	10
66		11	39	22	80
67					3
68		34	53	25	5
69		1	13	12	3
70		1	2
71			22	24	11
72			46	41	26
73		6	28	12	2
74		2	72	131	94
75		4	14
76		11	4	2	4
77		1	24	12	4
78		75	65
79	7	235	84
80	2	3	7	9	19
81	1	27	3	2
82	3	35	32	13	3
83	19	124	129	49	21
84				1
85		2	2	1	1
86		5	2	1	1
87		8	12	4	3
88		1	127
89		4	6	8	3
90	6	151	86	1
91			1
92	3	399	463	168	63
93					1
94		3	2		2
95		1	5	1
96		16	34	22	13
97		2	3
98		31	11	3
99		9
100		1	4	2
101	5	543	1,044	457	171
102			1
103	2	24	9	6	1
104		4	1	1
105			6	2	1
106		15	53	51	21
107		30	228	155	66
108		44	50	37	23
109		19	21	15	2
110			4	3	1
111		9	12	13	8
112			16	10	3
113		37	61	31	15
114				1
115		5	108	108	29
116		10	19	7	3
117		23	86	123	23
118		4	11	33	13
119		7	13	1
120		8	10	3	5
121		97	166	124	25
122		49	64	42	11
123			1
124	4	36	20	18	6
125			1	1
126		20	23	20	9
127		9	6
128					11
129		12	43	18	6
130		9	61	80	40
131				1	1
132		4	5	1	2
133	10	132	126	68	26
134		18	32	25	12
135	6	31	21	12	9
136		6
137			1
138			11	6	7
139	11	107	131	46	8
140		34	26	18	8
141	4	43	23	6	6
142		60	75	21	10
143		5	2	7	4
144		5	15	10	5
145			1	1
146					3
147			9	39	5
148		6	14	2	1
149	2	17	11	8	4
150		5	86	65	26
151		5	12	9	1
152	15	89	106	46	13
153		13	34	30	8
154			1	3	1
155		3	8	11	4
156		21	18	9	1
157	1	12	7
158			1
159	2	7	1
160		12	47	37	12
161			21	7
162		154	335	152	47
163			39	95	27
164		68	71	27	3
165		60	62	26	13
166		8	37	11	3
167				3	8
168	1	78	170	88	23
169				2
170		5	26	23	12
171			34	19	7
172			175	304	179
173		31	49	31	20
174		11	11	9
175		1	1	2	2
176		1
177		2
178		5	41	12	2
179			3	5	2
180		1	1
181	10	4	1	2
182				1	1
183	6	54	36	11	10
184		38	117	6
185				2	5
186		2	10	7	1
187		2	2	2	1
188		62	192	227	78
189			31	33	30
190	4	63	222	106	44
191		13	15	8	9
192				2	17
193			30	16	5
194		4	5	3	3

Pádraic McCormack

Question:

156 Mr. McCormack asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of first, second, third and fourth year participants in the REP scheme. [14151/98]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The numbers of participants in the REP scheme in each category are given below. These figures relate to the number of applications to whom the first, second, third and fourth year payments have been made.

First year, 12,311; second year, 11,569; third year, 9,689; fourth year, 998.