Billy Timmins
Question:1 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when REP scheme III will be implemented; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14886/04]
View answerThursday, 20 May 2004
Questions (1)
Oral answers (5 contributions)
The European Commission presented Ireland's proposals for amendments to REPS to the agricultural structures STAR committee meeting on 11 May 2004, with a recommendation that they be approved. Following discussion on a technical issue raised by another member state, however, the chairman deferred the vote on the Irish proposal to the next meeting of the committee to allow for clarification of the issue by the Commission's legal services. The issue relates to the manner in which REPS payments are related to a land area which may not be the same as the area that is subject to agri-environmental undertakings. It arose from further legal interpretation of the regulation within the Commission services since the current REPS was approved in September 2000.
While I was disappointed at this unforeseen delay, especially as Commissioner Fischler and his officials had co-operated fully in progressing the Irish proposal, the issue is a technical one. My officials made immediate contact with the Commission following the STAR committee decision and they met senior Commission officials earlier this week to identify precisely the matters which need to be addressed. Following the meeting, my officials and the Commission have exchanged further information and I am confident that the matter can be brought to a successful conclusion very shortly.
It is important to point out also that this temporary delay will put no REPS farmer at a financial disadvantage. My officials have confirmed with their counterparts in the Commission that when the revised scheme is introduced, all farmers with a start date or anniversary date after 1 March 2004 will be in a position to benefit from it.
Does the Minister agree it is most disappointing that a scheme heralded as cut and dry collapsed at the last minute? While it may be nothing more than a temporary delay, as the Minister indicated, it shakes people's confidence in the system when an agreement made in 2000 has still not been finalised almost four years later. I assume the matter will be addressed at the next Agriculture Council. Will the Minister assure the House that agreement will be reached on that date? I wish to see the matter brought to a conclusion.
While it is disappointing that a technical issue has delayed formal approval of the scheme, the matter is before the Commission's services and is being resolved. I hope a resolution will be found as early as next week. At any rate, the decision will not place any farmer at a disadvantage and no loss will accrue as a result because the scheme will take effect from 1 March this year. A person making a fresh application after that date will be entitled to the full, increased REPS rate. As the Deputy will be aware, the average increase is 28% and €260 million has been allocated to be expended under the scheme. Any person currently in REPS II whose anniversary date occurs any time after 1 March will automatically transfer to the new REPS III scheme.
Once we get clearance of the technical problem at services level, we will be required to await the next STAR committee meeting in June before making application forms available to farmers, who will then be able to apply to the scheme in anticipation of the formal decision of the next meeting.
Did the Minister or his officials have prior knowledge of the technical difficulty before the meeting of the STAR committee took place?
We had no prior knowledge. The sequence was that Ireland submitted the new REP scheme to the Commission in the first week of December last year. The matter was dealt with in the Commission in consultation with Ireland and formally approved by the Commission services which recommended its approval at the STAR meeting held earlier this month. It is unprecedented for any such approved recommendation of the Commission to be delayed. In this case, the delay was due to a technicality.
As I stated, for all practical purposes farmers will not sustain any loss or inconvenience because the scheme will be retroactive to 1 March this year. Nonetheless, we want to receive clearance for the scheme in order that forms can be made available to enable farmers to apply. The decision to increase the allocation to REPS by €70 million or 28% to €260 million was made in an effort to encourage farmers, in view of the nitrates directive, to meet best farming practice. This is the reason we negotiated an enhanced REP scheme and we want to implement it as quickly as possible.