Written Answers Nos. 204-212
204. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when disadvantaged area scheme payment for 2012 will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; the reason for the delay in issuing this payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10755/13]
View answerUnder 2012 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, holdings of eligible applicants are required to have met a minimum stocking density of 0.15 livestock units for a retention period of six consecutive months, in addition to maintaining an annual average of 0.15 livestock units calculated over the twelve months of the scheme year.
As the applicant has not as yet demonstrated that the holding satisfies the scheme minimum stocking density requirements, as of now, no payment is due in respect of the 2012 Scheme.
205. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the progress that has been made in relation to arriving at an agreement with the authorities in China, regarding the quarantine of horses being exported from this country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10766/13]
View answerA protocol for the export of Irish horses to China was signed in June of last year between the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China and my Department. This protocol sets out the veterinary health conditions that will apply to import permits issued by the Chinese authorities and also to the health certificate under which horses will be certified by my Department. A pre-export isolation period of 30 days to enable certain tests to be carried out will be a requirement for export.
A veterinary health certificate based on this protocol is currently with the Chinese authorities for signature and every effort is being made at diplomatic and highest level in my Department to expedite this matter.
206. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department has a veterinary inspectorate presence in each meat processing plant, including those plants cited in relation to the recent burger scandal; if he will publish their reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10767/13]
View answerMy Department maintains a permanent presence in its approved slaughter plants. Other Department approved meat plants are visited regularly. The frequency of the official controls in plants other than slaughter plants, which focus primarily on food safety requirements, is determined by a risk assessment, as required under EU legislation, which is conducted for each plant. The outcomes of such official controls are not published but are conveyed as appropriate to the food business operators concerned. Appropriate enforcement action is taken where necessary. EU official control legislation requires that confidential business information is treated confidentially unless necessary for the protection of public health. Official controls are monitored independently by the EU Food and Veterinary Office and by the FSAI under service contract.
Smaller meat processors are approved and supervised by local authorities operating under service contract arrangement with the FSAI. The same legislation applies to both types of meat processor; the difference is one of scale and the larger plants are more focussed on the export market. My Department does not have a direct role in such plants, but local authorities and the FSAI liaise with the Department in relation to the official controls and standards applying, to ensure that they are equivalent to those in the larger plants supervised by the Department.
The onus of compliance with EU food safety regulations, including traceability requirements, rests in the first instance with food business operators. Food business operators in Ireland are responsible inter alia for carrying out checks to ensure that their ingredients come from approved plants. In meat plants that operate under the supervision of the Department, official controls are conducted on these checks to verify their effectiveness. An annual audit of imported products is carried out in each Department approved meat plant. The audit includes physical identity, labelling and documentary checks. This includes product originating both in EU Member States and third countries. Labelling and documentary checks also form part of the routine checks conducted by Department officials.
Under the Department’s National Residue Programme, and including tests on bovine samples carried out by processors, up to 30,000 samples taken at farm and factory level and covering a wide range of food stuffs are tested annually. These tests relate to microbiological and chemical standards, their primary focus being on food safety. These are fully in accordance with EU testing requirements. In addition the Product Official Sampling and Testing (POST) programme is a microbiological testing programme on samples taken from Department approved ready-to-eat food, meat product, minced meat and meat preparation plants i.e. added value plants. This is part of the official verification of food safety controls in the plants concerned as provided for in Regulations (EC) 852/2004, 854/2004 and 2073/2005. A total of 1,600 samples are taken annually and the sampling and testing is risk based.
While compliance with existing food safety and food hygiene requirements was not an issue in relation to the mislabelling of meat products uncovered by the recent FSAI survey, it is clear however that the focus of checks henceforth will also need to include food authenticity. The recently agreed EU wide programme of DNA testing will provide the basis for consideration of future action in this respect.
In the meantime, in the light of recent developments, officials from my Department and the FSAI met with the meat processing sector on 14th February to agree a national protocol for DNA testing of meat to be applied at retail, catering and processing level in Ireland. This testing will provide further reassurance to Irish consumers and consumers of Irish food abroad about the authenticity of ingredients in our meat based products.
207. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total proposed allocation under the recently agreed rural development programme of common agricultural policy for the period 2014 to 2020; the required matching State Exchequer finances to draw down this money completely; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10770/13]
View answerIreland’s overall rural development allocation under the seven-year EU budget from 2014 to 2020 amounts to €2.190 billion. This represents an annual average commitment in the region of €313 million in current prices. This includes a special allocation for Ireland of €100 million over the full period that was secured following intensive negotiations in the final stages of the talks.
A co-funding rate of 53% will apply to rural development programmes. The general rules for the next rural development programmes are still under discussion by EU Agriculture Ministers. When these negotiations are concluded, I will then engage in extensive consultation to devise suitable programmes and agree appropriate exchequer funding with my cabinet colleagues.
208. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total allocation of money under the rural development programme 2007 – 2014, including the funding from the EU and the expected Exchequer matching finance for this programme for the same period, including all Exchequer financing to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10771/13]
View answerUnder the financial plan of the Rural Development Programme 2007 - 2013 [RDP] a total of €4,825,452,483 funding is currently allocated at programme level. This total consists of EAFRD funding of €2,494,540,590 and total exchequer funding of €2,330,911,893. Since the launch of the RDP expenditure under the programme up to the end 2012 amounted to €3.74bn. This represents 77.6% of the total value of the Programme and 83% of the EAFRD amount.
The financial plan in the programme is configured to maximise all available EU funding but national funding is subject to ongoing budgetary constraints. Adjustments to the financial plan will continue to be made up to the end of the programme to achieve the fullest possible draw down of EU funds having regard to available national financing.
209. Deputy Paul J. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason an application for an installation aid grant in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Galway has not been processed in view of the fact that a valid photocopy certificate of posting was received by his Department in August 2009 in respect of an earlier application; in view of circumstances involved if the application will now be processed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10809/13]
View answerThe case referred to by the Deputy is currently the subject of an appeal to the Agriculture Appeals Office. The outcome of the appeal will be notified to the applicant as soon as possible.
210. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the outstanding issues that remain to be resolved before final vesting can take place in relation to a commonage (details supplied) in County Galway; if he will provide details in relation to the outstanding issues involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10827/13]
View answerThe outstanding issues that my Department is currently aware of revolve around extinguishment orders for grazing rights which have to be agreed with the Property Registration Authority. In addition, my Department is awaiting clarification concerning a joint tenancy and the completion of three Release and Discharge dealings. All of these issues are being pursued with a view to lodging the vesting order as quickly as possible.
211. Deputy Tom Hayes asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment under the single farm payment scheme will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10830/13]
View answerAn application was received on 15th May 2012 from the person named requesting the transfer of 39.37 entitlements by way of lease to a company.
This application was fully processed. Following processing, the person named contacted the Single Payments entitlements section of my Department requesting that the transaction not go ahead as he had miscalculated the entitlements position.
An official from my Department reviewed the position and reverted the transfer. As a result the person named is now due an additional payment in respect of the 39.37 entitlements. This payment will issue shortly.
212. Deputy Paul J. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when an agri-environment options scheme payment will issue in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10842/13]
View answerThe person named was approved for participation in the 2011 Agri-Environment Options Scheme with effect from 1st September 2011 and has received full payment totalling €741.33 in respect of 2011.
Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme, a comprehensive administrative check of all applications, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any payment can issue. Payments in respect of the 2012 Scheme year are subject to a similar administrative checking process. These checks have been successfully completed and I expect payment to issue shortly.
