Am I to take it that the Minister for Education and Science is taking this Adjournment debate and that neither the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development nor one of the two Ministers of State is available?
Adjournment Debate. - Grant Aid.
The former Minister for Agriculture and a doctor in agriculture is to take it.
I appreciate the Minister's capabilities, but I wish to make a point. I thank him for attending the House at this late hour in view of the by-election campaign in Tipperary South.
There is an urgent need to announce the date when new grant aid will be available for farm waste management and dairy hygiene purposes. We have once again experienced a period of very difficult weather conditions for the harvesting of grass tillage. I do not hold the Minister responsible for that.
However, it reminds us once again of the need for ample storage for silage effluent and farm waste in general. Any young farmer involved in the REP scheme who has the misfortune to have a pollution problem and appear before a court would not only have to pay the obligatory fine and expenses, but would also lose his place in REPS and have to repay any money he had already collected. This is a possible cost of up to £25,000 plus to a young farmer. Compare that to the treatment of senior personnel at national level.
There is also the matter of cross-compliance and the possible loss of headage, premia, suckler cow and sheep headage payments, etc. How much more can farmers take? I canvassed in parts of Tipperary South last weekend and it brought home to me again how many young people are no longer looking at agriculture as an option. Quite large dairy farms are being closed down. Young people are no longer prepared to put up with this situation. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development accepted a report which projected that only 20,000 full-time farmers would be in business by 2010. Given the performance of the Government, we will reach that very quickly.
Some £37 million was provided for the control of farmyard pollution in 1996, £47 million in 1997, £10 million in 1999 and less than £2 million for the first four months of this year. No REPS is available at present unless one is already part of the scheme and no farm retirement scheme is available. Europe is being blamed for everything, including all the delays. The Minister and the Government must take responsibility.
The proposed 40% grant aid and a further 6% for trained young farmers is welcome and is something to look forward to. However, even if the scheme was announced now, there would be further delays with planning and farm management reports, etc. Some say it may be October or next year before the scheme is delivered. The onus is on the Minster and his senior civil servants to ensure it is delivered quickly.
Banks will not give loans until grants are guaranteed. With their low income over the last few years, farmers cannot afford to continue without grants. There has been a 40% drop in the numbers of young people attending agriculture college. This must have serious implications for the future of our biggest industry. St. Patrick's college in my county – and yours, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle – was closed this year. We do not want to see that repeated around the country.
In my own area, which is not as yet severely handicapped, there is still a problem because there is no headage available. Payments and grants such as this are more important than ever. I know that bureaucrats in Brussels can be difficult. However, the fact that the Government is prepared to pay this level of grant aid to farmers from the sizeable revenue available to it means that Brussels can be dealt with, but it must be dealt with in a progressive and urgent manner. I beg the Minister to get this dealt with as a matter of urgency so that more young farmers will not go out of business.
I thank Deputy Crawford for raising this issue. The current position is that grant aid is available for on-farm investments by farmers under the national schemes which were introduced by the Minister last year for the control of farm pollution and improvement of dairy hygiene standards. Some 5,500 farmers have already been approved under these schemes and they will remain open to new applicants until the measures provided in the National Development Plan 2000-06 come on stream.
Farmers approved under the national schemes will, over the summer months and beyond, continue with construction works and receive grant aid payments as the works are completed. Under the National Development Plan 2000-06, the Minister has made provision for a farm waste management scheme and a scheme for the improvement of dairy hygiene standards. A significant level of funding, amounting to some £217 million, has been allocated for both measures.
These on-farm investment measures will form part of the new regional operational programmes for the Border, midland and western region and the southern and eastern region. Clearance to proceed requires the approval of the EU Commission. The broad clearance procedure is already well under way as negotiations with the EU Commission on the community support framework for Ireland, necessary to draw down the EU element of the funds, have recently been completed.
In addition, the various operational programmes required have recently been finalised and submitted to the Commission within a tight timeframe. The further negotiation process in respect of the regional operational programmes will follow. The Deputy may be aware that there is a formal EU Commission procedure for the approval of operational programmes. By definition, and having regard to the very significant financial proposals for the spending of both EU and Exchequer moneys in the period to 2006, the procedure is complex and involves the provision of a considerable amount of documentation and detail.
Having regard to the timeframes associated with clearance of past operational programmes, the process is likely to continue over a number of months. Accordingly, it is not possible to indicate at this stage when any of the schemes involved will commence. We are very much in the hands of the Commission on this, but the Deputy can be assured that the Minister will be doing all he can to ensure that approval is forthcoming in the shortest possible time.
In any event, while the EU Commission procedure is in train, work on preparing the operational parameters of the schemes is proceeding. The Minister is aware that notwithstanding the very significant on-farm investment which has taken place in recent years, there is a considerable way to go and there are many farms which require such investment. It is his intention that the proposed schemes should be available to the greatest number of farmers possible and that in drafting the conditions to be met, full account will be taken of the increasing trend of part-time farming. This is a key aspect arising from the discussions with the social partners during the negotiations for the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness.
The Minister's objective is that the practical aspects of the design of the schemes will be completed so as to coincide with the issue of approval by the Commission which will enable the prompt roll out and commencement of implementation. The Minister is endeavouring to ensure that the new schemes are up and running as early as possible. In the meantime, as I said at the outset, the schemes currently in place will continue.