Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 May 2004

Vol. 586 No. 2

Adjournment Debate.

Rural Environment Protection Scheme.

Dr. Cowley

I am grateful for the opportunity to raise the plight of hill farmers in this Adjournment debate. Yesterday, I was at a meeting in Westport, which was attended by at least 500 farmers from Mayo, Connemara and Sligo. They are annoyed about what they perceive as a threat to reduce REPS payments. It is unfair to expect hill farmers to take a 30% cut in incomes, as a result of the Fischler CAP reforms and the incompetence of the Department of Agriculture and Food in tackling this draconian land designation, which has left hill farmers hampered for more than six years.

Farmers in these areas could not change or improve their farming types to take account of the Fischler agreement, whereas farmers in other areas were able to increase their individual quotas in sheep, cattle, suckler cows, dairy or grain. These most vulnerable and disadvantaged people on the western seaboard have been hard done by, whereas farmers in other counties, including Kildare, could plant any crops they wished. The only option for farmers in hill areas was to farm in an environmentally friendly way through the rural environment protection scheme. Since they had no other choice, they cannot accept the measures currently being proposed by the Minister for Agriculture and Food.

Everyone agrees that REPS has been good for the environment but the current arrangements discriminate against designated areas when compared to non-designated areas. The aim is to maintain REPS payments in commonage and SAC areas, which amounts to discrimination. It is obvious that all farmers with commonage and SAC land on their area aid applications, who are forced to be either in REPS or the national compensation scheme, are under threat.

For example, a farmer with 40 hectares, all of which is either designated and/or commonage, will see his or her payment reduced from €9,680 to €6,040 — a reduction of 40%. Who could tolerate a cut like that? By comparison, the new REP scheme for non-designated areas increases payments by up to 30%, as well as allowing farmers to qualify for additional measures. Meanwhile, farmers in commonage and SACs are facing a reduction of up to 30% and are not eligible for extra measures. The latter group will have to farm under severe environmental restrictions and their stock numbers are limited by the commonage framework plan.

In County Mayo, the single farm payment value of the sheep stock is €0.9 million, while the estimated loss of REPS payments will be up to €7 million. For 2,500 farmers in County Mayo, the loss is estimated at €6.1 million. Everybody is demanding that this cut should be resisted and that REPS payments in commonage and SAC areas be addressed.

Thousands of farmers have already left the land and many more will do so in future. These are the people who need help, instead of which they are being badly affected by the proposals. The problem extends beyond the farming community to shopkeepers, publicans, pharmacists, doctors and others. Everyone is affected because it means that income is being taken away from the area. Those who were forced into REPS had no choice and are now being severely punished because of that. The net loss to County Mayo should not be tolerated because it will have a huge impact on rural life. It is a major blow and a threat to those involved. The money, upon which local businesses depend, is not even going into the State's coffers but back to Brussels.

I am sure the Minister of State would agree that farmers have been looking after the land well for generations. I hope he will address this matter urgently. Maximum pressure is required to resolve this issue and if it entails officials working this out, it should be done, no matter how long it takes. The people concerned want their entitlements, including a REPS increase which is badly needed. One no longer hears of young people taking up hill farming, so if such farming is to have a future it is time to address this situation urgently.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture and Food (Mr. Treacy)

The new single farm payment scheme, to be introduced with effect from 1 January 2005, will be based on the average amount paid to farmers under the livestock premia and arable aid schemes in respect of the reference period 2000-02, inclusive. Council Regulation 1782/2003 governing the single payment scheme provides that where a farmer was under agri-environmental commitments during the reference period — that is, where stock numbers were reduced because of environmental commitments — the member state, in this case Ireland, shall calculate the single payment on the basis of the amounts paid, during the period 1997-99. If one or more of those years were affected by agri-environmental commitments, the average can be calculated using only the year or years not affected by such commitments.

Commission Regulation 795/2004 provides that when single payment entitlements are being calculated for farmers affected by agri-environmental commitments during the reference period, care must be taken by the member state to avoid double compensation — that is, where a year or years, during which no stock reduction was in place, are taken for the purposes of calculation of the single payment, then the compensation element for stock reduction included as part of the agri-environmental scheme, must be reduced accordingly. The Commission regulation gives farmers the option of either getting the single payment based on a reference period when no stock reduction was in place, and getting a reduced agri-environmental payment, or getting the single payment based on the reference period 2000-02, and getting an agri-environmental payment which includes an element of compensation for de-stocking.

Agri-environmental commitments in Ireland took the form of REPS. Under a 1998 agreement with the European Commission, Ireland secured a generous rate of payment of up to €242 per hectare on commonage or target area lands. Included in this figure was an amount of €90 per hectare to compensate farmers who might have to reduce sheep numbers under framework plans to be drawn up for all commonages. Pending the drawing up of those framework plans, the Commission insisted that Ireland take action to address the real problem of overgrazing by sheep on commonage land in the six western counties of Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Mayo, Galway and Kerry.

In November 1998, all sheep farmers with commonage land in those counties were de-stocked by some 30%. In total, some 5,600 farmers in the counties concerned had commonage land, and some 2,577 of those farmers were already participating in REPS and were not, therefore, required to de-stock. The farmers who were not already participating in REPS, were given the option of joining REPS or a national scheme administered by what was then Dúchas and is now under the aegis of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Those who participated in the national scheme were given an annual payment per ewe de-stocked, which included the value of the ewe premium foregone.

By 2003, some 2,500 farmers in the six western counties were participating in the national scheme, including 527 farmers in County Mayo. Those 527 farmers were paid a total of €1.3 million under the national scheme in 2003. In addition, a total of 942 farmers, 296 of whom were in County Mayo, left the national scheme during the period 1998-2003 and joined the REP scheme. The basis of the alleged loss of €6.1 million is not clear.

In the course of setting up the single payment scheme, the Department intends to use the average amount paid in the reference years 1997-98 for all farmers currently participating in the national compensation scheme. This means the farmers concerned will get the benefit of the ewe numbers they had prior to the de-stocking that took place at the end of 1998. This will have to be offset by a reduction in the level of compensation payable from 2005 onwards by the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. Therefore, the farmers concerned will not suffer any loss and it is important that this point is clearly understood by everybody.

For those farmers who are currently participating in REPS and who had reduced sheep numbers during the reference period 2000-02, it is intended to use that reference period in calculating the single payment. This means the single payment will be based on years when sheep numbers were reduced. However, the intention is that the farmers concerned, if they entered into REPS contracts before January 2005, will be entitled to keep the existing payment under measure A for the duration of those contracts. Individual farmers in this category will be able to apply to the Department of Agriculture and Food to exercise the option outlined earlier.

The question of sustaining the existing level of measure A payment on commonage for REPS contracts entered into after the introduction of the single payment scheme, from 1 January 2005, will be examined later in the year.

As regards confining the new REPS payment increases to the basic rate, it is important to make the point that this is fully in line with the arrangements agreed with the farming social partners in Sustaining Progress. In summary, this matter is being handled in a reasonable fashion at all levels.

Schools Amalgamation.

Mr. M. Moynihan

I welcome the opportunity to address the issue of the amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork. This issue has been with the Department of Education and Science and there has been correspondence between the Department's planning and building unit and the chairperson of the board of management, Canon John Terry, in respect of the amalgamation of the girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school in Kanturk.

In the past two or three years, technical assessments have been carried out and further to correspondence between the chairman of the board of management and the Minister for Education and Science in November 2003, it was decided that a further technical assessment of the two buildings would be carried out. At this stage, the boards of management of both national schools have indicated to the Department their willingness to amalgamate them into a co-educational school. The issue which must be addressed is that the facilities on site in both the convent girls' primary school and St. Colman's boys' national school are housed in confined spaces. The best option from my point of view and that of the boards of management and the people of Kanturk is a new greenfield site. Will the Minister of State outline to the House what the current position is in respect of this project?

As the Minister and Minister of State will be aware, Kanturk is a growing town. Some 120 new houses are currently being built, which will put further pressure on the primary school facilities in the town. As the Minister will also know, Kanturk is to benefit from the decentralisation programme announced by the Government in the budget, which initiative I welcome. This will encourage further growth in Kanturk and we may end up with a bigger town whose school facilities have outgrown their usefulness. The willingness of the boards of management and staff of both schools in their plans for amalgamation in this case must be commended.

I ask the Minister of State to take into account the necessity for decisions to be made and communicated to the boards of management of both schools to advance the cause of the amalgamation, which has been so readily met by the boards. In many cases, such amalgamations are fraught with difficulty but in this case it is running smoothly. I ask the Minister of State to further advance this case as a matter of urgency. There is a great need for the schools to amalgamate to provide an excellent co-educational national school for the people of Kanturk given the growth projections.

Mr. Treacy

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter as it gives me the opportunity to outline to the House the strategy of the Department of Education and Science for capital investment in education projects and also to outline the position regarding the proposed amalgamation of the national schools in Kanturk, County Cork. The enrolment at St Colman's boys' national school, Kanturk, has been decreasing in recent years, from 111 pupils in 1998-99 to 98 pupils in September 2003. The school has a staffing of principal and three mainstream assistants, one permanent learning support teacher and one permanent resource teacher. Scoil Náisiúnta Chlochair is a co-educational school in the town which enrols boys in junior and senior infants only. Enrolments have increased slightly in recent years from 158 pupils in 1998-99 to 167 pupils in September 2003. The school has a staffing of principal and five mainstream assistants. In 2001 an amalgamation between the two schools was proposed by the school authorities and all parties expressed agreement to the amalgamation in 2002.

A technical inspection of the school and site was carried out at this time and a recommendation was made that the convent school could accommodate the amalgamated school on its premises as a medium-term solution. The recommendation was that a new school on a greenfield site should be provided as a long-term solution. The purchase of a site and the advancement of the school's building project to architectural planning will depend on the budgetary provision for 2005 and subsequent years.

The 2004 school building programme at primary and post-primary level amounts to €387 million and outlines details of more than 200 large scale projects proceeding to construction, 120 projects recently completed or under construction and more than 400 at various stages of the architectural planning process. When publishing the 2004 school building programme, the Department outlined that its strategy will be grounded in capital investment based on multi-annual allocations. Officials from the Department of Education and Science are reviewing all projects which were not authorised to proceed to construction as part of the 2004 school building programme with a view to including them as part of a multi-annual school building programme from 2005. The national schools referred to by the Deputy will be considered in this process and the Department expects to be in a position to make further announcements on this matter in the course of the year.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the method used by the Department of Education and Science in determining in an open and transparent way how projects are included for funding in the school building programme and to assure the House that this school and all others will be treated in a fair and equitable manner by the Minister and his staff at the Department of Education and Science.

School Staffing.

Mr. Costello

This is the time at which schools are informed that they may or may not lose teachers. In areas of disadvantage in Dublin where pupil numbers may be declining and rising elsewhere there are inevitable problems. St. Joseph's is the local primary school in East Wall and it has experienced considerable difficulties in this disadvantaged area. Much of the development which has taken place in the area, particularly in the docklands, has bypassed the school. It is only now, under pressure, that the docklands developers have acted on the commitment they made ten years ago to provide the infrastructure and development to bring about an uplift and rejuvenation to the community in conjunction with the local authority. This development is beginning to come on stream but, in the meantime, the school and its teachers have been informed that it will lose two teachers because of the decline in numbers. The Government's intention is to deprive the school of those two teachers.

My argument is that the school should retain those two teachers for a number of reasons. First, the loss of teachers to the school will be debilitating and unsatisfactory for staff, students, parents and the community in general. Second, enormous development is taking place in the general neighbourhood. Last week, the Taoiseach launched 75 social and affordable houses down the road which will be occupied by young families. The docklands developers have a commitment to develop 1,200 social and affordable houses in the next couple of years, all of which will be part of the parish of East Wall. At last the development is taking shape and there will be a lot of new blood in the area and young families with school-going children. However, the danger is that, in this interim limbo period, the school could lose the necessary teachers. The classes could double in size in some cases and become mixed. As a result, parents with children in the school may vote with their feet and send their children to other schools where the pupil-teacher ratio is better.

This is a serious situation which can only get worse if these two teachers are lost. If the school was part of Breaking the Cycle — it was not included in the pilot scheme — it would have a pupil-teacher ratio of 15:1. Its ratio is far higher and teachers in the school will have to teach classes where two grades are mixed together, which is not sustainable. The school will be in serious jeopardy if those two teachers are lost.

An appeal has been made but those appeals are not decided until mid-summer, when the Dáil is not sitting and there are no politicians around. The Minister for Education and Science should take into consideration the enormous development taking place in the area. East Wall was an isolated community but it is about to become a burgeoning area which desperately needs a primary school. It will have more children than it can cope with in the years to come and it would be a shame if the school's ability to go forward was undermined by the loss of two teachers.

Mr. Treacy

I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and for giving me an opportunity to outline the position of the Department of Education and Science.

The mainstream staffing of a primary school is determined by reference to the enrolment for the school on 30 September of the previous year. The number of mainstream posts is determined by reference to a staffing schedule which is finalised for a particular school year following discussions with the education partners. The staffing schedule is set out in a circular which issues from the Department to all primary school boards of management. Accordingly, all boards are aware of the staffing position for their school in any school year.

The staffing schedule for the coming school year, 2004-05, is outlined in circular 03/04 of the Department of Education and Science, which issued to all primary schools in April and is also available on the Department's website. Mainstream staffing of the school referred to by the Deputy for the current school year is a principal and eight mainstream class teachers based on the enrolment of 220 pupils on 30 September 2002. The school also has the services of a learning support teacher, a resource teacher, two posts catering for educational disadvantage and a shared home school liaison teacher.

Based on an enrolment of 172 pupils on 30 September 2003, the mainstream staffing for the school year 2004-05 will be a principal and five mainstream class teachers. The school also fulfils the criterion for appointment of an administrative principal based on staffing of a principal plus nine teachers when all posts are counted. In such instances a permanent teacher may be appointed to replace the principal. This will facilitate a staffing of a principal and six mainstream class teachers and the net loss of posts as a consequence of applying the staffing schedule is two mainstream posts. There are no plans to adjust the additional posts allocated to the school under various support schemes, so they will stand.

To ensure openness and transparency in the system an independent appeals board is now in place to decide on any appeals. The criteria under which an appeal can be made are set out in Department's primary circular 19/02 which is also available on the Department's website. The appeals board will meet shortly to consider appeals on the mainstream teaching allocation to schools for the 2004-05 school year. The House will appreciate it is not appropriate for the Minister for Education and Science to intervene in the operation of an independent appeals board. I thank the Deputy once again for raising the matter in this House.

The Dáil adjourned at 8.55 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 26 May 2004.