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On-farm Investment Schemes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 May 2010

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Questions (38)

Enda Kenny

Question:

50 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when the measures announced in July 2009 using unspent Common Agricultural Policy funds will be delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22057/10]

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Written answers

Under the final agreement on the Health Check of the CAP Ireland secured access to additional funds of €25 million annually from unspent CAP funds for three year from 2010. Following wide consultation with interested stakeholders and having regard to the provisions of the Regulations, I decided to allocate the funds to three schemes, details of which I announced over the last number of months. The schemes are:

A Dairy Efficiency Programme which involves the payment of €6million per annum over the next three years to eligible dairy farmers who actively participate in the programme with a view to achieving significant efficiency gains on their farms.

A Grassland Sheep Scheme involving the payment of €18million per annum to sheep farmers for each of the three years 2010, 2011 and 2012,and

The Burren Life — Farming for Conservation Programme providing €1million each year for the next three years to support high environmental value farming in the Burren which is one of Ireland's outstanding landscapes and is world renowned.

The dairy sector faces many challenges as it prepares for quota abolition and the realities of competing in a global market place. The Dairy Efficiency Programme, with its main focus on cost reduction and greater efficiencies, further reinforces the initiatives which I have undertaken to help the dairy industry to look to the future with optimism. The Grassland Sheep Scheme provides much needed support to the sheep sector and will act a real incentive to farmers to maintain their production levels, which are essential for the future of the sheep industry in this country. The Burren Life Programme is a continuation and mainstreaming of the pilot scheme known as the Burren Life project. It is a voluntary scheme open to farmers who farm in the Burren region in north Clare and south Galway and will provide an important boost to the traditional farming methods employed in this unique karst landscape.

My Department has now implemented all three schemes. Under EU regulations payments under the three schemes can only commence on 1 December 2010. I am confident that the bulk of the payments under the Grassland Sheep Scheme will be made in early December. It is expected that payments under the other two schemes will commence early in 2011 when the participants have completed their obligations under each scheme.

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