I am, of course, conscious of the financial pressures on many farm families and of the importance of grant and scheme payments to their incomes and cash-flow. Since my appointment I have given the highest priority to the processing and payment of all scheme payments and to the elimination of all unnecessary delays.
In a ten week period from late September to early December 2012, the amount paid by my Department by way of direct payments to farmers was in excess of €1.4 billion. By any measure, this is both a very significant sum in itself and a very commendable achievement in terms of delivery.
To date, over 123,000 farmers have been paid in excess of €1,210 million under the 2012 Single Payment Scheme. Payment commenced on 16th October 2012. The normal payment date is 1st December but the earlier payment date was approved by the EU following my making a case to the EU Commission.
With regard to the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, while there is no regulatory start date for payments, the scheme being co-funded, the recognised earliest possible payment date is during the third week of September; I can confirm that payments began on schedule on 26 September. To date, payments worth in excess of €204 million have issued to some 93,000 applicants.
Under the Grassland Sheep Scheme payment cannot commence prior to 1 December. I can confirm that these payments commenced on 10 December last and, to date, payments worth some €18 million have issued to 28,152 applicants. The budget for the scheme is €18 million.
Payments under the Beef Technology Adoption Programme commenced on target in late December, with some €4.4 million already paid to in excess of 4,800 participants, while payments under the Dairy Efficiency Programme, worth in the region of €5.5 million, are on target to issue in the coming weeks, to some 5,500 participants. Payments worth up to €1 million are also on schedule to shortly issue to those successfully participating in the Burren Farming for Conservation Programme.
Area-based schemes under the Rural Development Programme, 2007-13, are subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications, including cross checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, to be completed before payments can issue. These rigorous procedures, together with on-farm inspections, apply to a number of scheme payments including the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and the Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS), and are necessary to ensure that applications meet the scheme conditions and cross-compliance requirements.
Payments under the agri-environment schemes, REPS and AEOS in 2012 exceeded the levels of payments achieved in 2011. Already in 2013 significant progress has been made issuing further payments and every effort is being made to resolve outstanding queries and to bring payments fully up-to-date.
Under REPS 4 all payments due in respect of the scheme years prior to 2012 have been made and a total of 26,145 of the 30,000 applicants have been already been paid their 2012 payment.
Under AEOS I all outstanding payments due in respect of both 2010 and 2011 have been finalised and of the 7,500 participants remaining in that scheme over 6,200 have received payment in respect of 2012.
Under AEOS II 5,070 of the 6,250 approved applicants have been paid in respect of 2011. 2012 represents the first full year payment for AEOS 2 applicants. The high level of queries and farmer delays in submitting valid claims has resulted in a lower than expected level of 2012 payments under AEOS 2. Nearly 2,100 have received payment at this stage and to deal with outstanding queries additional resources have been directed to this area with the intention of clearing the backlog as soon as possible. Requests and reminders have issued to farmers that have not submitted valid claim forms and where applicants have received correspondence in this regard they should respond as soon as possible.
Grant payments under Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Scheme (TAMS) are also subject to eligibility checks including on farm inspections in order to assess eligibility and payments are dependent on the completion of the project concerned.
