Written Answers Nos. 21-29
21. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the decrease in employment in agriculture, forestry and fishing in Quarter 1 2014; the reason for this decrease; the steps he has taken to arrest this downward slide in employment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26117/14]
View answerThe CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) shows that there was an annual increase in employment of 2.3% or 42,700 in the year to the first quarter of 2014, bringing total employment to 1,888,200. Employment increased in nine of the fourteen economic sectors over the year and fell in five.
The increase recorded in Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing was 14.3% or 14,300, compared to the first quarter of 2013, giving a figure of 110,500 for employment in the primary sector in the first quarter of 2014.
The CSO has advised that due to necessary changes in the sampling framework introduced incrementally to reflect the 2011 Census of Population, the first fully valid year-on-year comparisons for the agriculture sector will only be available from Q4 2014. The CSO also advise that the most valid comparison for all the QNHS data is year-on-year, i.e. Quarter 1 of 2014 should be compared with Quarter 1 of 2013, rather than with Quarter 4 of 2013.
The agri-food sector makes a significant contribution to employment at national and regional levels. While the sector accounts for almost 9% of employment at national level, it accounts for 14% of employment in the BMW region. This underlines the importance of the sector at a regional level, as well as the opportunities for further development which the implementation of Food Harvest 2020 will bring.
The new Rural Development Programme will be a vital support to rural Ireland in terms of enhancing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, managing natural resources in a sustainable manner, and ensuring the balanced development of rural areas. The Government has given a clear signal of its commitment to a strategic investment in rural Ireland and the agri-food sector by providing National Exchequer funding to bring the total amount available for RDP schemes to over €4 billion in the period to 2020.
22. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a process is in place whereby enterprises in marine tourism and marine-related engineering and electronics industries can apply for workspaces in national harbours, in particular at Howth Harbour, County Dublin. [25913/14]
View answerMy Department owns, manages and maintains the six Fishery Harbour Centres located at Howth, Dunmore East, Castletownbere, Dingle, Rossaveel and Killybegs.
Properties located in the Fishery Harbour Centres are, when appropriate, offered for tenancy under lease agreement by means of an open competitive tendering process in accordance with good practice and public procurement guidelines.
In 2013, my Department held public competitive tendering processes for vacant sites in three Fishery Harbour Centres namely Howth, Castletownbere and Killybegs and plans with regard to potential future uses for vacant properties at the Fishery Harbour Centres are kept under ongoing review by my Department.
While Fishery Harbour Centres are first and foremost working fishery harbours, there are also a wide range of other activities in all the harbours, including Howth. My Department elicits harbour users' views through regular communication with them and via the annual Harbour Users Forum which was most recently held in Howth on the 23rd January 2014.
Consideration will be given to demand for particular services should such demands become apparent, subject to public competitive tendering obligations.
Optimising the maximum return for the Exchequer, while delivering on a public service delivery remit, is foremost when considering potential future uses for vacant properties in the harbours.
23. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total allocation for the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26114/14]
View answerThe Rural Development Programme, 2014-2020 (RDP) will be co-funded from the National Exchequer and the EU’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). The agreement reached on the Multiannual Financial Framework provides for a total allocation of EU funding of €2.19 billion (€313m per annum over 7 years) to Ireland for a new RDP. A sum of €2.037 billion of the EU funding is allocated to measures to be delivered by my Department with the remainder allocated to LEADER funding which is administered by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government.
The Government’s continuing commitment to strategic investment in the agri-food sector and the rural economy is evidenced by the provision of matching funding to bring the total allocation for the new RDP to over €4 billion.
The annual expenditure for each proposed measure over the lifetime of the new RDP will be subject to the normal annual budgetary procedure with the main areas for support being:
- a substantial new agri-environment/climate scheme (GLAS), which will build on the progress made under REPS and AEOS. This will provide for a maximum payment of €5,000 for up to 50,000 farmers and a further payment of up to €2,000 for a limited number of farmers who take on particularly challenging actions;
- continued strong support for disadvantaged areas (now Areas of Natural Constraint) amounting to about €195 million annually;
- support for on-farm capital investment amounting to €395 million over the lifetime of the RDP;
- knowledge transfer and innovation measures, aimed at underpinning farm viability, sustainability and growth through the adoption of best practice and innovative solutions;
- a beef data and genomics programme aimed at improving the genetic quality of the beef herd and worth up to €52 million per year; and
- other supports aimed at collaborative farming, organic farming, etc.
24. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when it is envisaged that a final decision on the future of the sheep grasslands scheme will be made; if it will be retained as a separate payment or if it will be integrated with single payment entitlements; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26136/14]
View answerThe current Grassland Sheep Scheme is based on Article 68 of EU Regulation 73/2009 which governs direct payments in the form of the Single Payment Scheme. As of 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.
In developing the shape of the new system of Direct Payments in Ireland, I have been very conscious of the needs of sheep farmers, in particular those who farm on hill and commonage land. In general, sheep farmers hold low value entitlements under the current Single Payment Scheme and will benefit significantly from the model of convergence that is to be applied in Ireland where those with a low Initial Unit Value will see the value of their entitlements increase over the period of the scheme.
When determining the Initial Unit Value of a farmer’s entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015, Regulation 1307/2013 gives Member States the option to take into account any payment the farmer received in 2014 under Article 68 schemes 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 in Ireland as a means of safeguarding the value of the payments received under the Grassland Sheep Scheme for those farmers concerned. The Grassland Sheep Scheme is the only Article 68 scheme that is being incorporated into the calculation of entitlements under the new Basic Payment Scheme. If such incorporation does not take place the value of such payments would simply remain in the national fund and would be redistributed generally among all farmers who establish entitlements.
The incorporation of 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 rather than relying solely on the gradual process of convergence to increase the unit value over the five year period up to 2019. Our analysis confirms that as a result of this provision the group of farmers who receive the Grassland Sheep Scheme will have an immediate financial benefit in 2015 as part of their payment under the Basic Payment Scheme.
25. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider an amnesty for farmers being penalised retrospectively due to unintentional over-claiming of payments due to changes in EU land eligibility technology. [26142/14]
View answerWhile there is no option to apply an amnesty in the case of those adversely affected by the ongoing land eligibility review, I can reassure the Deputy that every effort is being made to protect the interests of all Irish farmers during the process, including the interest of the majority of farmers, who were fully compliant in the declarations they made on an annual basis under the Schemes.
The issue of land eligibility is particularly crucial in the context of the various area-based schemes operated by my Department. The Deputy will be fully aware of the value of these EU funded Direct Payment Schemes, with farmers benefitting annually from funding of over €1.5 billion under Schemes such as the Single Farm Payment Scheme, the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, the Agri-Environment Schemes, etc.
The European Commission has an obligation to ensure that Member States manage and use the EU funding granted to them in accordance with the very restrictive provisions governing the Schemes and general financial provisions. Under the Common Agricultural Policy, this is done by way of a Clearance of Accounts procedure. This is a formal process and both the Commission and Member States are obliged to adhere to the requirements laid down in the legislation.
Deputies will be aware of the process, which involves audit missions, follow-up correspondence, a formal bilateral meeting followed by further correspondence, leading ultimately to the Commission’s letter of findings. This letter, which was recently received, proposes significant corrections totalling €181.5m, significantly ahead of the level that might reasonably have been anticipated.
However, we have the right, and fully intend availing of this right, to ask for the matter to be reviewed by the Conciliation Body. This body will review the case and seek written and oral observations from each party. It will make its recommendations, which the Commission will consider before arriving at its final definitive decision. Ultimately it is open to each Member State to initiate legal proceedings in the European Court of Justice in relation to the Clearance decision.
This is an extremely serious process. During the years 2002 to 2012, the Commission imposed financial corrections amounting to almost €5 billion on Member States. Ireland’s share of this total amounted to €25.6 million (or 0.5% of the total amount corrected – one of the lowest percentages among Member States). Under the EU Regulations, the Commission has the right to impose a flat-rate correction of 2%, 5%, 10% or greater, depending of its assessment of the risk to the EU Fund involved.
On the other hand, the level of the correction can be based on the assessed risk, if the Member State can establish the risk and the Commission is satisfied with the calculations. In such circumstances, if the risk is dealt with by the Member State by collecting the debts arising from the over-payments, the amounts collected is taken into account by the Commission in its final assessment. This is the approach Ireland is following.
26. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total number of applicants he expects to join the new GLAS 2014-2020 in the years 2015 to 2017, inclusive; the average payment he expects them to receive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26115/14]
View answerGLAS (the Green Low-carbon Agri-environment Scheme) is part of a suite of proposed measures under the new Rural Development Programme (RDP). Prior to any roll-out of the scheme the RDP must be submitted to the European Commission for approval and I expect to be in a position to do this shortly. The European Union approval procedure will involve a detailed analysis of our proposals and will take a number of months.
GLAS is designed around core requirements which all applicants must satisfy. A tiered approach is being applied to entry into the Scheme and the tiers are based on a consideration of priority environmental assets and actions.
The proposed maximum payment is €5,000 per annum, with the Scheme building up to the inclusion of some 50,000 farmers with a total envisaged expenditure of €1,450m over the programming period. It is envisaged that the number of Scheme participants at the end of 2015 will be 25,000; at the end of 2016 will be 35,000 and at the end of 2017 will be 45,000 with the full complement of 50,000 being achieved in 2018. I expect most farmers to achieve the maximum payment under the Scheme.
It is also proposed that, within budget limits, a GLAS+ payment would be put in place for a limited number of farmers who take on particularly challenging actions which deliver an exceptional level of environmental benefit. It is proposed that this payment will be up to €2,000 per annum.
27. Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is committed to engaging in the outstanding issues he referred to at the Animal Health and Welfare Conference which took place on 16 May 2014 in Dublin Castle; if he is committed to re-engaging on the outstanding issues of hare coursing, digging out of foxes, badger culling, fur farming and the use of animals in circuses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26098/14]
View answerHare coursing is a matter for my colleague the Minster for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht who has responsibility under national and EU wildlife law to ensure the conservation of the populations of certain species, including the hare. However, my Department is represented on a Monitoring Committee on Coursing, which was established in 1993/94, to monitor developments in coursing. This committee, which also includes representatives from both the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the Irish Coursing Club (ICC), keeps the situation under constant review to ensure that coursing is run in a well controlled and responsible manner in the interest of animal welfare both for hares and greyhounds alike. Since 1993, Irish Coursing Clubs have made it compulsory for greyhounds to be muzzled while they chase the hare thus making injury to hares a very rare occurrence. Veterinary Inspectors from my Department attend and monitor coursing events.
In relation to digging out, under the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, lawful hunting of an animal may take place unless the animal is released in an injured, mutilated or exhausted condition. The Hunting Association of Ireland and The Irish Working Terrier Federation have set out rules and procedures for the use of hunt terriers. It is intended that these rules and procedures will be examined in the context of Section 25 of the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013 with a view to adapting them as modern Codes of Practice under the Act.
Badgers are protected by national legislation and are listed within the Berne Convention. My Department monitors the animal welfare aspects of badger culling on a continuous basis and is satisfied that culling has contributed to a significant reduction in the incidence of TB in cattle and that the arrangements and procedures involved in culling result in minimal injury to badgers.
A Code of Practice for fur farmers has been drafted under the new Animal Health and Welfare Act and includes a series of practical measures to assist fur farmers adapt the highest standards of animal husbandry and provide practical assistance for breeding and rearing of animals. This code is currently available on my Department's website.
With regard to the use of animals in circuses, my Department is working with circus representatives on the preparation of a code of practice. This code when enacted will be complemented by unannounced inspections by my officials.
28. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the action his Department is taking to meet our EU 2020 targets on greenhouse gas emissions from the agriculture sector, which it is projected we will not meet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26125/14]
View answerMy Department is acutely aware of the need to identify cost effective abatement options that can reduce carbon emissions while at the same time improving farm profitability. We are currently developing a low carbon agriculture sectoral roadmap under the Heads of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Bill 2014 and this roadmap will take into account the targets in the industry’s Food Harvest 2020 strategy as well as existing mitigation commitments. The roadmap will also outline a longer term view and seek to balance the objectives of allowing the food industry to grow so as to meet the food security challenges that face the world as well as the need to meet future climate change ambition.
The Environmental Analysis Report on Food Harvest 2020 found that the adoption and use of high technology and best production methodologies at farm production level will yield the best environmental outcomes and result in the most effective mitigation measures. The new Rural Development Programme (RDP) for the period 2014-2020 is being informed by the findings and recommendations in this report and the ‘Marginal Abatement Cost Curve for Irish Agriculture’ (September 2012 prepared by Teagasc), and will be a key support in enhancing the competitiveness of the agri-food sector, achieving more sustainable management of natural resources and ensuring a more balanced development of rural areas.
The measures in the RDP 2014-2020 will be designed to support the smart green growth message of Food Harvest 2020 and thus encompass the themes of technology, efficiency and sustainability. The main elements of the consultation document in terms of proposed measures are:
- a substantial new agri-environment/climate scheme (GLAS), which will build on the progress made under REPS and AEOS;
- incentives for on-farm capital investment, which will incorporate support for investments with clear sustainability benefits;
- knowledge transfer and innovation measures including support for the European Innovation Partnership, which are aimed at underpinning farm viability, sustainability and growth through the adoption of best practice and innovative solutions;
- a new beef data and genomic technology that will have a range of benefits in terms of sustainability, profitability, animal health and welfare, quality assurance, and herd quality;
- other supports aimed at collaborative farming, artisan producers and organic farming.
The Government’s policy position is to seek an approach to carbon neutrality in the agriculture and land-use sector, including forestry, which does not compromise capacity for sustainable food production. Teagasc has carried out a recent study entitled ‘Carbon-Neutrality as a Horizon Point for Irish Agriculture’ (December 2013) which aims to address and provide a scientific framework for the challenge posed in seeking an approach to carbon-neutrality in the longer term for agriculture. My Department will continue to work closely with other Departments and agencies in developing the technical capacity necessary to underpin the evolution of the national climate policy and the development of a definition for carbon neutrality in the agricultural sector.
29. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will outline the process of the reassessment of areas covered by the areas of natural constraint scheme; the details of the new biophysical criteria; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26130/14]
View answerThere is an ongoing review at EU level of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (DAS) – this Scheme, to be known as Areas of Natural Constraint, is to be delineated by Member States using soil and climatic criteria, as proposed by the Commission, as follows:
- Climate, including Low Temperature and Heat Stress;
- Soil, including Drainage, Texture & Stoniness, Rooting Depth and Chemical Properties;
- Soil & Climate, including Soil Moisture Balance;
- Terrain, including Slope.
An area (administrative unit) would be delineated as an Area of Natural Constraint, when it meets the proposed threshold set for one of the above criteria only. The Commission are suggesting the delineation be carried out a LAU2 level – District Electoral Division (DED) in Ireland’s case. To qualify under the new system, an area will need to show that at least two-thirds of its utilised agricultural land meets at least one of these criteria.
The resultant Areas of Natural Constraint would be subject to a fine-tuning process. These so called Second Stage Criteria are designed to remove areas which, although they meet the biophysical criteria, are deemed to have overcome the natural disadvantage and, therefore, should not benefit under the Scheme. The Second Stage Criteria would not apply to the criteria Low Temperatures, Heat Stress and Slope. The suggested ones for the other criteria are as follows:
- Soil Moisture Balance: Fine tune using % of area that is covered by fixed irrigation.
- Drainage: Take account of the artificial drainage, which can in effect move soils from one class to another.
- Texture and Stoniness, Rooting depth and Soil Chemical properties: Fine tune using production related indicators.
Commencement of the process must firstly await finalisation of the Teagasc innovative Irish Soil Information System (ISIS), which is designed to complete the national soil survey and which is scheduled for completion later this year. On completion of ISIS the necessary comprehensive delineation may initially commence to see which land is included and excluded as Areas of Natural Handicap. Under the CAP Reform agreement, Member States have until 2018 to introduce a new regime.
