Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 5

Written Answers. - Grant Payments.

Jim O'Keeffe

Question:

50 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his attention has been drawn to the dissatisfaction on the part of sheep farmers arising from the new commonage framework scheme; and if there will be a continuation of premium payments on all sheep until such time as an acceptable scheme is in place. [20703/02]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The decision to freeze ewe quota on some commonages, which was communicated to farmers recently, arises from a 1998 agreement between my Department and the EU Commission, which secured generous REP scheme payments of up to €242 per hectare to farmers with commonage. This agreement was reached at a time when overgrazing by sheep, particularly on commonages in the west, had reached a point where the Commission had threatened to stop all payments under the scheme in those areas. My Department had to suspend the processing of REP scheme applications in the six western counties that included large areas of commonage. As a result of the 1998 agreement, however, an additional €7 million per year is paid on top of the basic REP scheme payment to the 3,700 farmers with commonage land who participate in the scheme. This represents an average annual additional payment of €1,800 per farmer and it brings the total average annual payment for REP scheme farmers with commonage land to €7,100.

Under the 1998 agreement with the Commission, my Department, with Dúchas, was required to have individual framework plans prepared for each commonage. Now that the framework plans have been mostly completed, individual stocking levels have been calculated with reference to the destocking requirement of the relevant plans together with the data already held in the Department in respect of the farmers concerned. The destocking arrangements are required to implement measures to protect and rejuvenate commonage areas that may be at risk because of overgrazing. They are an integral part of the agreement that was secured in 1998. Failure to implement them would call into question the generous payments based on that agreement. Farmers who are subject to these measures, but who are not already participating in the REP scheme, must apply during 2003 to join the scheme or a complementary national scheme to be operated by Dúchas.

It has been clear since the agreement with the Commission was negotiated in 1998 that when the commonage framework plans were completed, stocking levels would have to be adjusted in line with the actual destocking requirements in the plans. Indeed the farming organisations have pressed repeatedly for the completion and publication of the plans at the earliest possible date. The implications of the framework planning process have been widely discussed over the years and in February of this year the destocking requirement for the vast majority of commonages was published on my Department's website and received considerable publicity. Any change to the 1998 agreement would have to be renegotiated with the EU Commission. The participating stakeholders will have an opportunity to discuss the matter in the context of the consultative process on the REP scheme which I recently announced.