Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 Feb 2003

Vol. 560 No. 4

Written Answers. - Rural Environment Protection Scheme.

Paul Connaughton

Question:

186 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers by county who have incurred penalties as a consequence of non-compliance with the REP scheme; the numbers, the type of errors and the size of the resultant penalties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2858/03]

Minister for Agriculture and Food (Mr. Walsh)

The following table gives a breakdown by county of the number of farmers in each year who were found to be non-compliant with the terms and conditions of REPS, together with the total number participating in the scheme nationally.

County	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
Carlow			10	32	50	44	34	24	26
Cavan			54	138	83	138	175	127	102
Clare			25	84	232	290	443	214	158
Cork		1	30	128	153	222	303	177	176
Donegal			13	50	60	112	160	114	113
Dublin			4	12	13	21	28	14	7
Galway			21	195	298	458	513	282	292
Kerry			21	81	74	135	126	95	55
Kildare			30	74	91	108	116	89	68
Kilkenny			13	40	27	43	60	42	43
Laois			36	73	118	141	195	100	60
Leitrim			35	129	137	159	156	110	45
Limerick			22	52	72	164	221	96	115
Longford			20	66	51	88	101	84	68
Louth			14	32	34	41	41	23	12
Mayo			19	132	233	330	417	221	228
Meath			23	110	82	139	199	118	57
Monaghan			16	41	39	64	87	57	42
Offaly			50	101	82	97	129	69	34
Roscommon			15	123	136	186	282	161	146
Sligo			5	48	54	76	115	69	71
Tipperary			73	162	215	301	347	184	142
Waterford			13	20	21	49	61	36	34
Westmeath			26	77	78	158	141	95	55
Wexford			30	109	69	105	123	59	64
Wicklow			13	31	39	49	56	39	27
Total		1	631	2140	2,541	3,718	4,629	2,699	2,240
Total in Scheme	336	8,700	21,900	30,926	39,129	45,431	44,802	34,293	37,317

As the figures show, the vast majority of farmers in REPS have not had difficulty in complying with the terms and conditions of the scheme with fewer than 8% incurring compliance penalties in most years. The five most frequent kinds of non-compliance, accounting for some 43% of the total, are as follows: change in area; hedges-stonewalls not maintained as specified in plan; undertakings in respect of farmyard not carried out as planned; farm boundaries not stock-proof; and bovines not excluded from wells or watercourses.

Since the introduction of REPS in 1994 my Department has paid over €1.16 billion to participating farmers. From this amount, approximately 1.5% has been withheld for breaches of the terms and conditions of the scheme.