Seanad Éireann debate -
Friday, 20 Dec 1985

Vol. 110 No. 11

Adjournment Matter. - Feed Voucher Scheme.

Mr. Ellis

I should like to apologise for keeping the House but this issue is of great importance. I hope I have not disrupted the holidays of the Minister of State in getting him to come to the House to deal with this matter. I am sure that he, like Senators, is anxious that farmers are made aware before Christmas of the position in regard to the feed voucher scheme. The Minister of State will recall that early in October we were told by the Minister for Agriculture that feed vouchers were ready and applications would be processed quickly. However, within a few days of Christmas with all Departments preparing to close for holidays feed vouchers have not been issued and there is no prospect of any further processing until early in January. In yesterday's and today's newspapers there are notices to feed merchants concerning participation in the scheme. The question of fodder should have been dealt with earlier and the vouchers in the possession of applicants for at least a month. We must remember that six to eight weeks of the winter period have passed. The feed vouchers when they are issued will not be of much use to the farmers involved. Is the Minister aware that many farmers are being told they do not qualify under the scheme because they may have from their own resources, purchased feed whether it is hay, straw or silage? Farmers are being told that if they have 75 per cent of their requirements, irrespective of the quality of the feed, they will be debarred from aid.

This week a farmer informed me that he had been refused aid on the grounds that he had 75 per cent of his feed. That information was conveyed to him by a Department official who called to his premises. However, that farmer on opening his clamp of silage discovered that only 30 per cent of it would be of any use to him. The feed value of that amount of silage was practically nil. I should like to ask the Minister of State to have another look at the conditions of the scheme and in disadvantaged areas to pay the extra money as requested by the IFA who, on behalf of farmers, made a commitment to make a contribution towards the provision of a double headage payment. The double headage payment is the quickest way to get aid to those farmers.

Nothing will be done in the next two weeks as far as the processing of applications under the scheme is concerned. Will the Minister tell the House when the first feed vouchers will be issued? Will he reconsider the position under which farmers in receipt of a first time silage grant will not receive feed vouchers? Is the Minister aware that farmers who received any aid under the Shannon flooding scheme will not receive assistance under the feed voucher scheme? I am aware of a farmer who was paid £35 under the Shannon flooding scheme and is debarred from the feed voucher scheme because of that.

The Minister should speed up the processing machinery. He should tell the House if there will be an appeal mechanism for farmers who have been refused such vouchers and have since discovered that the quality of the feed they have is of poor value. Those farmers will be in a serious position due to shortage.

Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture (Mr. Hegarty)

The main problem facing farmers arising from the bad weather this summer is, of course, the shortage of winter fodder for their livestock. The disastrous weather conditions prevented many farmers from securing normal supplies of hay and silage and, indeed, much of the fodder conserved was of poor quality. There have been a number of estimates of the overall fodder deficit and, while it is difficult to quantify the precise extent of the problem, I am satisfied that the shortage is substantial. The good weather over the past few months, however, has helped to alleviate the situation to some extent.

The Government have responded generously to the situation by agreeing to provide assistance to farmers in difficulty. A number of measures have been introduced and, as already announced, the main assistance is in the form of a feed voucher scheme to operate over the whole country. The aim of the scheme is to enable farmers who have a serious shortage of winter feed to buy feeding-stuffs. The scheme is based on a substantial level of aid from the Exchequer and a contribution of 125,000 tonnes of reduced price intervention grain from the EC. The overall level of aid is considerable, given the current difficult budgetary situation in Ireland and the European Community.

In deciding on the form of assistance to be made available, it was necessary to ensure that (a) farmers were given the type of assistance they needed and (b) the assistance was directed at farmers in greatest need. Since the main problem facing farmers is a shortage of winter fodder for their livestock, it seemed reasonable that the assistance should be in the form of feed vouchers to enable them to purchase such feed.

The scheme is being operated in such a way as to ensure that it is simple, that controls are kept to a minimum, and that the vouchers are issued to farmers without undue delay. Some 90,000 applications have been received under the scheme and this has been a heartening response. I might mention, however, that so as to ensure that all farmers eligible for aid were catered for, it was necessary, in response to representations, to extend the original closing date for the scheme to 27 November. While it may have held up operations somewhat, this proved most worthwhile since it was in this extended period that around half of the applications were received.

Processing of applications is now well advanced and should be completed shortly. The aim is to issue feed vouchers early in the New Year, which is in line with the time schedule originally envisaged. In view of the huge number of applications received and the short time available for processing these applications, this is a considerable achievement and, therefore, I reject out of hand the suggestion that there has been any undue delay in the processing of the applications under the schemne. The current estimate is that approximately 75,000 of the 90,000 applicants will qualify for aid under the scheme.

Aid under the feed vouchers scheme is only to be given to those farmers who have been unable to conserve adequate winter feed. A criticism levelled at the scheme has been the fact that it did not take sufficient cognisance of the quality of fodder existing on farms. Let me say that it would simply not be possible to determine eligibility for the scheme on the basis of the quality of fodder, since this would necessitate individual on-farm inspections which would have caused considerable delay in the issue of aid to farmers. Again, what we have done is to adopt a simple and straightforward approach with a minimum of on-farm inspections and, in calculating individual allocations, we have made a generous allowance for the generally poorer feeding value of hay this year. In response to representations, we have also had regard to the situation of farmers who this year, as an exceptional measure, had to buy straw. These farmers will not now be penalised under the scheme.

Our approach, therefore, has been simple and flexible. The objective of the scheme has been to relieve hardship on those farmers in the greatest need. The Government have been pragmatic in their response to the needs of the farming community. I would also remind Senators that, in addition to the feed voucher scheme, the Government have introduced a number of other measures. In the Shannon Valley Scheme alone there were about 1,600 applicants who got about £240 each and the silage scheme had 30,000 applications. Also there was the scheme for nitrogen aid, combined with the feed vouchers. These represent a most generous contribution to help farmers in the difficult times brought on by the disastrous weather of the past summer.

Senator Ellis made the point that the people on the Shannon were being precluded from getting this fodder, but we are looking into that matter. Silage makers are not precluded from this scheme. It is well, also, to inform the House that many people other than those with fodder shortage were hit by the disastrous weather. Some of those in greatest difficulty in many parts of the country are people who had a heavy investment in grain. We have endeavoured to meet that situation with help in regard to interest rates. Again, many people would say that that is not enough, but in such a year in which so much went wrong, weatherwise and with farm incomes, it is correct to say that a fair effort has been made by the Government to help in the very bad situation.

The Seanad adjourned at 12.50 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 January 1986.