Single Payment Scheme Eligibility

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 February 2014

Tuesday, 11 February 2014

Questions (521, 522)

Brendan Smith

Question:

521. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the proposals, if any, he has to reverse his decision to incorporate the sheep grassland scheme payments into the single farm payment of sheep farmers where the benefits of the grassland scheme will be eroded under the single farm payment convergence and approximation mechanism to be implemented; if he will reverse his decision to abolish the sheep grassland scheme in order to preserve the income benefits to producers from that scheme and also the overall benefits to the sheep sector in terms of maintaining the national sheep flock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6853/14]

Brendan Smith

Question:

522. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the strong opposition among sheep farmers to his decision effectively to abolish the sheep grassland scheme in his recent announcement on the Common Agricultural Policy; if he will provide details of the analysis his decision was based on; if he will outline the mechanisms now in place to prevent a further fall in the national sheep flock; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6854/14]

Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine

I propose to take Questions Nos. 521 and 522 together.

The Grassland Sheep Scheme is based on Article 68 of the current EU Regulation 73/2009 which governs direct payments in the form of the Single Payment Scheme. As of the 1 January 2015, that Regulation is superseded by EU Regulation 1307/2013 and consequently there is no longer any legal basis for the continuation of the Grassland Sheep Scheme in its present form under the provisions of the new CAP Reform Regime.

Despite these difficulties, I have decided to take action to assist sheep producers. When determining the Initial Unit Value of a farmer’s entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015, Regulation 1307/2009 gives Member States the option to take into account any payment the farmer received in 2014 under an Article 68 Scheme such as the Grassland Sheep Scheme. This option is only available where the Member State is not applying voluntary coupled support to the sector concerned under the new CAP.

I have decided to apply this provision as incorporating the Grassland Sheep Scheme payment into the calculation of a farmer’s Initial Unit Value in 2015 will obviously result in a higher entitlement value for the farmers concerned from the start of the Scheme. In addition, I have increased the total funding under the 2014 Grassland Scheme from €14 million to €15 million. As the 10% modulation deduction will no longer be applied under the 2014 Scheme, this will result in an increase of over €2 million in payments to sheep farmers under the 2014 Scheme. This additional €2 million will also be incorporated to the new entitlement value under the Basic Payment Scheme. In total, sheep farmers with an entitlement value close to the national average will benefit by approximately an additional €14,000 over the seven years of the Basic Payment Scheme.

Over the past two years sheep numbers have stabilised and while the breeding flock declined slightly in 2013, a return to growth is expected in 2014. I was pleased to note that for the third consecutive year Irish sheep throughput grew, reaching 2.61 million head, a rise of 7%. These developments led to sheepmeat production rising by around 3% to stand just over 55,000 tonnes. The total value of Irish sheepmeat exports is estimated to have increased by over 4% in 2013 to reach €220 million.

In conclusion as I made it clear at the National Sheep Conference, I am still open to suggestions regarding the provision of additional aid to the sheep sector.