Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 27 Nov 2001

Vol. 545 No. 1

Written Answers. - Rural Environment Protection Scheme.

John Bruton

Question:

166 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the rate of take up of the REP scheme; and if there is a reduction in the take up of the scheme as a result of an undue burden of paperwork being imposed on those who wish to comply. [29887/01]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (Mr. Walsh):

To date some 14,000 applications have been received to participate in the new rural environment protection scheme which was launched on 27 November 2000. By the end of the year it is anticipated that this figure will have reached 15,000. This is the largest volume of applications in any year since the first REP scheme was introduced in 1994. The highest number in a previous year was 13,000 in 1996. Of the applications received so far this year, more than 11,350, 82%, have already been approved and paid.

It is too soon to determine a clear pattern in the take-up of REPS. The restrictions on farm visits during the foot and mouth disease emergency meant that REPS planners could not go on to farms to prepare agri-environmental plans for potential applicants. This created a backlog of applications which was compounded by the fact that large numbers of participants in the first scheme came to the end of their contracts this year and would have been expected to apply for the new scheme.

Almost nine out of ten applications for the new scheme are from farmers who took part in the previous one. While the most recent data available to my Department would suggest that a number of farmers have not yet re-applied for REPS, it is not possible to say whether this is because they have not decided to re-apply, or because their planners' current workload has delayed their applications. The same difficulty arises in trying to draw conclusions from the number of applications from farmers who were not previously in REPS.

I accept that the burden of paperwork may deter some farmers from applying for REPS. However, my Department is obliged to operate the scheme within the EU guidelines, and as a result, there is little that can be done to cut down the complexity and amount of the paperwork involved. There are other reasons farmers could decide not to join REPS, or why those who took part in the first scheme could decide not to re-apply. Participants in REPS have to adopt extensive farming practices that some may consider unduly onerous or commercially unattractive. Some farmers may be discouraged by the cost of having applications prepared. Some participants in the former scheme may have incurred penalties for non-compliance which made them reluctant to take on new undertakings.