Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 November 2010
1 Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the efforts he is making to overcome the delays to the processing of single farm payments which has delayed payments to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41011/10]
View answerI can confirm that my primary objective in relation to processing payments under the single farm payment and disadvantaged areas scheme this year is to ensure that as many payments can be made to as many farmers as quickly as possible subject to the necessary requirements of those two schemes being met. For that reason, I set out a very ambitious payments schedule for commencement of payments under the various direct payments between September and the end of the year as follows: 22 September — 75% advance payment under the disadvantaged areas scheme; 18 October — 50% advance under the single payment scheme; 20 October — 25% balancing payment under the disadvantaged areas scheme; 1 December — 50% balancing payment under the single payment scheme; and 8 December — payment of the new grassland sheep scheme.
Despite the difficult circumstances, my Department has adhered strictly to this schedule and it is my firm intention to do so again for the payment of the single farm balancing payment commencing on 1 December and the grassland sheep scheme payment on 8 December. It was vitally important that certainty be provided regarding the timing of payments, and it was also important to individual farmers and to rural Ireland as a whole to maintain payments at the maximum permitted level over that period.
Despite the record number of altered maps received from farmers this year and the consequent need to revise the area information on the land parcel identification system in order that the requirements of the governing regulations are met, my Department has paid almost €700 million to more than 110,000 farmers under both the single payment and disadvantaged areas schemes in the month since payments commenced.
It is often forgotten that under EU rules, the earliest permissible date for payment under the single payment scheme is 1 December. This year I made a special case to the European Commission, taking account of the past two difficult years endured by the farming community, and secured agreement to make an advance payment of 50% from 18 October. This is the fifth successive year that Ireland had paid an advance of the single farm payment, an achievement which is unprecedented. There is no doubt that Ireland is one of the first member states to release single payment funding and the record of the Department in processing applications since the introduction of the single payment scheme, SPS, in 2005 and making advance payments is equal to the best record of any member state.
The total number of farmers paid under the single payment scheme in the first two weeks alone is 110,438 with an amount totalling €519 million. When account is taken of the additional amounts paid under the disadvantaged areas scheme, payments to date have reached almost €700 million, a significant figure under any circumstances. This underlines the initiatives that I have taken to achieve my objectives of maximising payments. One of the initiatives came from my decision to include the provision of advance payments under the disadvantaged areas scheme as well as the SPS. In a significant change, the Department has been able to pay those farmers whose applications are fully processed and clear on a weekly basis. I also brought forward the date for the balancing payment for the disadvantaged area scheme. In addition, it has also been possible to make full or partial payments to those farmers whose only difficulty is non-digitised maps, with payment being made on those parcels of land that are digitised and cleared. This meant that thousands of farmers received payment much earlier than would normally have been the case.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House.
I have also implemented a provision, for the first time, where farmers not in receipt of their full advance payment can receive a supplementary advance payment following the re-digitising of their land parcels. In the past, such farmers would have to wait until 1 December before they could be paid their additional payment as well as their balancing payment. This is an important new development and in line with my primary focus of issuing payments to farmers as soon as they became eligible for payment.
Furthermore, as my Department became aware that the number of farmers submitting maps was showing a significant increase over previous years, arrangements were made during the summer to increase the digitising resources available to it. As a result, more maps have been digitised this year than in 2009 and almost double the average of previous years. The completion of the digitising work will remain my top priority until each and every map is updated to ensure that the area is clearly defined for payment. I also arranged that additional resources were made available from within my Department to assist in the application processing, particularly dealing with telephone queries from farmers.
I do acknowledge that some farmers have not received the full amount of their advance payment because the maps submitted by them this year have not as yet been digitised. In that context, I must point out under the legislation governing the implementation of the single payment scheme it is only permissible to pay applicants in respect of eligible land. In many cases this year applicants have identified ineligible areas on maps sent to my Department which is then obliged to have these amendments digitised onto the land parcel identification system. This means that the ineligible areas entered by farmers on the maps submitted to my Department must be re-digitised onto the land parcel identification system. That task is highly technical and must be carried out to a very high standard to preserve the integrity of the system.
This year has proven to be a particularly challenging one from the point of view of keeping the land parcel identification system up to date. I wish to set out the scale of the task. By the time the processing of the 2010 applications is completed, it is expected that my Department will have processed and digitised maps received from more than 70,000 farmers. This compares with a figure of 30,000 for 2009 and an average of 22,000 maps in recent years. On average, each farmer submitted two maps with the 2010 application forms. It is for this reason, despite the allocation of additional resources, that the digitising of the maps submitted is taking a longer period than in previous years.
The question has been asked as to the importance of the land parcel identification system, which records details of all land declared under all the area-based schemes. I must emphasise that it is essential that it is fully accurate and up to date, given the fact that it underpins total expenditure in excess of €1.8 billion annually. The system must take account of changes to areas submitted by farmers. Any failings or shortcomings in the land parcel identification system would leave this country open to the very real risk of significant EU disallowances. I am certain that everyone will agree that such a risk cannot be countenanced and I will do everything within my power to avoid compromising the value of direct payments to Irish farmers.
There has been some comment on the need to react earlier. This is easy to say but does not reflect the unprecedented number of maps requiring updating and re-digitising and the extra two months required to input the huge level of additional information into the system. Data capture, which would normally take place by July, was completed in September. In addition, the digitising of land parcels requires certain skills and knowledge and there are very few skilled operators. Therefore, it is not a situation where further staff could be readily be recruited from outside. This year, all aspects of the processing of the single payment scheme took longer than in previous years given the number of farmers who made alterations to their applications particularly relating to the changing of eligible areas.
While, as I already acknowledged, some farmers have not been paid the entire amount of their advance of the single farm payment, the existence of non-paid cases at this early stage of processing — only two weeks after payment commencement — is a feature of the processing of applications in each year and it normally takes a number of months to process all cases to finality. Every year there are farmers whose payments take time to process.
I must stress again that the payment of €700 million to 110,000 farmers achieved in the few short weeks since payments commenced is a significant achievement. The situation is kept under constant review, with a view to maximising payments and meeting the milestones set out in my ambitious schedule. I can assure farmers that my Department is unstinting in its efforts — for example, during the last week alone, my Department has issued 15,630 payments amounting to €25 million and these efforts will continue.
The remainder of the reply will be in the Official Report
A Leas-Cheann Comhairle——
Two minutes are allocated to replies. I have given the Minister three minutes but I do not think he was even halfway through his reply.
There is very important information that Deputies will appreciate when they read the record. It is valuable information.
It is an important subject.
That can be done by way of a tabular statement appended to the Minister's answer.
We acknowledge the fact that the advance has been given for five years in a row, but that is because farmers have been in such dire straits with regard to their incomes. My question was about the efforts being made to overcome the delays in processing. There are major challenges associated with digitising maps, which is one part of it. There is a letter in the Irish Farmers' Journal today which best summarises the complicated, convoluted cross-compliance criteria between the single farm payment scheme and REPS. There are people whose land is not part of the land that has been digitised on the maps. Unfortunately, the letter states that the authenticated name and address of the sender are with the editor. However, it is pertinent and explains clearly the complicated process in which we are engaged. Did the Minister consider the challenges and problems outlined in this letter? There will be outstanding cases and, no matter what the statistics, there will be unjustified and indefensible delays in some people's payments — which may, apart from anything else, affect their REPS payments.
We do not set the criteria for these schemes, which are European Union-wide. In the space of a few short weeks, more than 110,000 farmers have been issued with payments totalling €700 million.
We knew from the early part of this year there would be additional requirements from Europe with regard to mapping, land parcel identification and so on. In recent years, individual farmers may have sold sites, built new farm buildings and so on, so there are differences in the eligible areas. At the beginning of this year, to set this process in motion and ensure we do not draw penalties upon ourselves, as a Department we sent out more than half a million maps to all single farm payment recipients and asked the farmers to send back amended maps if required. I stress, in case I may be misconstrued, that the overwhelming majority of farmers who had to send amended maps had more than enough eligible land, although there may have been changes such as a new roadway or a site used to build a house for a son or daughter.
More than 70,000 of the applicants returned maps — a total of more than 250,000 — to the Department. Many of the 40,000 people who submitted their single payment scheme application online sent their maps by post. More than 70,000 farmers sent in hard-copy single payment or disadvantaged area scheme applications and, in many instances, the maps were sent separately from the applications. Many maps also came in late. Thus, the collation of the maps had to be done first, followed by the inputting of the data. It was only then, after the initial processing was done, that we knew the extent of the digitisation work that was required.
It must have been expected that this would be an issue. The Minister mentioned that a large number of people had an adequate amount of land even though there was a discrepancy. These could have been fast-tracked.
We should not use the word "discrepancy"; perhaps "change".
Yes. Based on what is in the letter I mentioned, although I appreciate that I cannot discuss it directly, it seems there is a conflict between the rules and criteria set out for the single farm payment and those for REPS, which could leave some people high and dry. It is best summarised in the letter, and I ask that the Minister consider this, or a group of people will be left in limbo at the end of the year when everything else has been processed.
If a person writes to the Department or to me, he or she will get a response, and we will take up any issue. I must point out that there are no discrepancies. The administration of the single farm payment, the disadvantaged area payment, the new upland sheep payment and the REP scheme must be done in accordance with the criteria laid down by the European Union. We are not going to compromise administered schemes and risk the imposition of a penalty.
The date laid down in European law, which must be adhered to unless one has a derogation, is 1 December. Of the annual single farm payment total of under €1.3 billion, more than €500 million has been already paid six weeks in advance of the closing date. I assure the Deputy——
That is poor consolation for farmers who are waiting for money and have commitments they must meet. They have no money.
Deputy Coonan, these are priority questions.
Deputy Coonan——
The Minister should not allow those whose names are not appended to a priority question to ask questions.
That type of misrepresentation does us no justice. The Department brought in——
It is not misrepresentation.
Deputy Doyle is well capable of asking the questions, and I will answer them. Deputy Doyle said that this could have been expected. In anticipation of the extra workload, we had arranged for extra resources from a personnel point of view and from the company that does mapping work on contract for the Department.
We must make progress.
We should recognise, as should every public representative in the House, that 90% of farmers have received a payment under these schemes. That is an important message that Deputies should be promulgating——
Ten percent are going out of business.
——instead of trying to undermine a successful scheme.
We are well over time on this question.
Do you have a roadmap, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle?
