Written Answers Nos. 184-198
184. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a payment to a person (detail supplied) in County Kerry under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6471/16]
View answerMy Department received a 2015 Transfer of Entitlement Allocation Right and Reference Value Application from the person named seeking the transfer of allocation rights and values by Change of Legal Entity as Transferee. As the name on the herd number shown changed after the Basic Payment Scheme application was submitted for this herd number, it was necessary for my Department to request a Declaration of Undertaking form be completed by the person named and the previous herd owner. To date this document has not been received by my Department. Until such time as it is received, it is not possible for this application to be further processed. An official from my Department will contact the person named to resolve the issue.
The person named also submitted applications under the ‘Young Farmer’ category of the 2015 National Reserve and the Young Farmer Scheme to my Department. Once payment under the Basic Payment Scheme is made these applications can be finalised with a view to payment shortly thereafter.
185. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry under the agri-environment options scheme and the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6473/16]
View answerA GLAS application for th is herd number has been approved under Tranche 1 of GLAS with a contract start date of 1 January 2016 and accordingly a 2015 GLAS part year payment is not due . The first payment due under this herd number is in respect of the 2016 scheme year and this payment will be processed in the final quarter of this year.
An AEOS contract for the herd number commenced on 1 November 2010. Payment has issued for the 2010-2014 scheme years. Under the EU Regulations governing the Scheme and other area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administrative check, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any payment can issue. The application of the person named was also selected for an on-farm inspection which took place on 3 July 2015. During this inspection non-compliances with the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme were noted in relation to the Species Rich Grassland and Traditional Hay Meadow action which resulted in a penalty being incurred. The application will now be processed on the basis of the inspection findings and payment in respect of the 2015 Scheme year, less the appropriate penalty, will issue at the earliest opportunity.
186. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he will issue payment to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal under the young farmers scheme; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6475/16]
View answerThe person named submitted applications under the ‘young farmer’ category of the 2015 National Reserve and the Young Farmers Scheme. Under EU Regulations pertaining to these schemes processing of applications requires administrative and/or on-farm checks. All checks have now been completed in respect of the applications for the person named and payment will issue shortly.
187. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he will issue payment to persons (details supplied) in County Galway under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6482/16]
View answerThe persons named have been approved under Tranche 1 of GLAS with a contract start date of 1 October 2015. GLAS applicants with a start date of 1 October 2015 are e ligible for a 2015 part-year payment in respect of 2015 eligible actions, covering the three month period 1 October 2015 - 31 December 2015.
The application of the persons named has successfully completed the pre-payment validation checks in respect of the 2015 part-year payment. The first instalment of the payment due issued to the persons named on the 23 December 2015. The balancing payment will issue this quarter, after all required regulatory checks are completed.
188. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the funding available for applicants under the 2016 national reserve scheme; when the scheme will open for applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6489/16]
View answerIn order to provide funding for the 2015 National Reserve a linear reduction of 3% was applied to Ireland’s Basic Payment Scheme financial ceiling. This was the maximum financing rate available to Member States under the relevant EU Regulations and provided a fund of €24.7m. When finalised there will be some 6,000 successful applicants under the 2015 National Reserve, the majority of these being under the two priority categories of young farmer and new entrant to farming and all of the available National Reserve funding will have been utilised.
In 2016 the only source of funding available to the National Reserve will be from ‘clawback’ on the sale of entitlements without land. From 2017 onwards the National Reserve will also be replenished from unused entitlements as EU Regulations governing the scheme provide that entitlements that are unused for 2 consecutive years are surrendered to the National Reserve. The Regulations also provide that Member States may apply a linear cut to the value of all farmers’ entitlements in order to provide funding for the National Reserve.
My Department is currently in discussions with the Direct Payments Advisory Committee, which includes members of the main farming bodies and advisory services, in relation to the National Reserve. No final decision on the operation of the National Reserve in 2016 has been made at this time.
189. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry under the single payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6496/16]
View answerUnder the Terms and Conditions of the Basic Payment Scheme and other area based schemes an applicant, as well as meeting the Scheme criteria, is required to comply with EU regulatory requirements relating to Cross Compliance. The person named was subject to a Nitrates inspection on 7 March 2014, carried out by my Department on behalf of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government.
This inspection identified non-compliances with the cross compliance requirements under the Nitrates Regulations with regard to rainwater from the open yard flowing into dairy collecting area thereby increasing the volumes of soiled water. No provisions were in place to divert clean rain waters from the dirty yard. The silage base concrete was badly eroded and broken. There was nothing to stop effluent escaping to ground water.
A report detailing findings of an inspection carried out by Kerry County Council on 15 December 2014 was referred to my Department’s Cross Compliance Unit for attention. This report detailed breaches relating to the cross compliance requirements under the Nitrates Regulations. These breaches identified findings where soiled water/slurry from a dirty yard and some seepage from the slurry tank was collected and discharged to a pipe which in turn discharges into a land drain leading to direct discharge to groundwater. There were no proper collection facilities in place to collect soiled water and slurry from the yard and slurry pit.
The person named previously incurred breaches under the Nitrates Regulations following an on-farm inspection carried out in 2010 which resulted in a 5% sanction. In addition a 15% sanction was applied to the 2012 Direct Scheme Payments of the person named following a report received from Kerry County Council. As the breaches identified in 2012 were within the previous three years of 2014, the regulatory provisions required that the rules on repetition be applied and this resulted in a penalty of 45% being applied following the on-farm inspection carried out by my Department in March 2014 and a penalty of 100% being applied in respect of the breaches identified in the report received from Kerry County Council. This resulted in a final penalty position of 100% being applied against the 2014 Direct Schemes payments. The person named was notified of these decisions on 13 March 2014 and 30 March 2015. As payment in respect of the 2014 Single Payment Scheme had already been made, my Department was required to recoup the amount overpaid.
The person named appealed the decision , the outcome of which was to reduce the sanction to 60%. The person named was notified of this decision on 9 March 2016. If the person named is dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, the decision can be appealed to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office, within 3 months.
Officials in my Department have put in place arrangements to refund any monies due to the nominated bank account of the person named as a result of the reduction in the penalty applied to the 2014 payment due under the Single Payment Scheme.
190. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he will make payment to a person (details supplied) under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6500/16]
View answerAn application under the 2015 basic payment scheme was received from the person named on 29 May 2015. Processing of this application has recently been finalised and payment has issued to the applicant’s nominated bank account.
191. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a payment to a person (details supplied) in County Cork under the sheep technology scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6508/16]
View answerThe person named joined the Sheep Technology Adoption Programme in February 2013 and has received payment in respect of 2013.
In order to qualify for payment, Sheep Technology Adoption Programme participants were required to attend five meetings and satisfactorily complete two tasks (from a menu of ten) in each year. In 2014, the person named did not attend any meetings and did not satisfactorily complete either task. In 2015, he did not satisfactorily complete the Faecal Egg Count task. As a result he did not comply with the Programme requirements, and did not receive payment in 2014 or 2015.
This decision has been the subject of an initial internal appeal, and the decision was upheld. The person named has been advised of the outcome of the appeal and of the avenue for further appeal which is available.
192. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he will process a payment for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo under the young farmers payment scheme; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6512/16]
View answerThe person named submitted applications under the ‘young farmer’ category of the 2015 National Reserve and the Young Farmers Scheme. Under EU Regulations pertaining to these schemes processing of applications requires administrative and/or on-farm checks. All checks have now been completed in respect of the applications for the person named and payment will issue shortly.
193. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the measures he is taking to address the ongoing challenges in the dairy and milk sector; if the sector was sufficiently warned of the commercial risks on foot of the changes to the quota system; the support measures in place to alleviate farmers adversely affected by a downturn in the price of milk; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6526/16]
View answerThe price of milk and dairy commodities is determined by a range of factors, including supply and demand at international level. Food commodity markets including dairy markets have been characterised by significant levels of volatility for a number of years and this trend has continued throughout 2015 and into early 2016.
Factors contributing to global price volatility in 2015 included the Russian Ban and the softening of Chinese demand on one side, coupled with increased production among key global producers including the EU on the supply side. The longer term demographic and demand perspectives remain positive, but 2016 will be a challenging year.
Production decisions are made by producers, taking prevailing market conditions as well as their efficiency of production and price of inputs into account. The challenge posed by price volatility has been highlighted by my Department and others over a number of years, and indeed my Department has, including through its agencies, invested significant resources in providing farmers with advice and technology designed to improve on farm efficiency, reduce production costs, and make farm businesses more resilient in times of downward price pressure. The abolition of dairy quotas in April 2015 allows farmers the freedom to make these production decisions on a commercial basis.
That said, we obviously must offer support to the sector in times of prevailing difficulty such as we are now experiencing. In this respect, I very much welcome the Presidency conclusions on the proposal for the package of support measures to address challenges in the dairy and pigmeat sectors which was agreed in Brussels at last month’s Council. This follows on from an earlier package of measures agreed in September of last year and takes account of the ongoing difficulties being experienced in the sector, where the duration of market turbulence has gone well beyond previous expectations.
The package includes a number of proposals by Ireland to the Commission and other Member States in advance of the Council, in particular the doubling of the intervention ceiling for skimmed milk powder and butter. I also welcome the Commissioner’s undertaking to consider further flexibilities in the PSA scheme for Skimmed Milk Powder, and to look at further flexibilities in the State Aid regime.
In terms of input costs at farm level, I have called on the Commission to consider looking at temporary suspension of EU import tariffs on fertilisers to reduce input costs for Irish and EU farmers and the Commissioner is looking favorably on this request.
The Presidency conclusions also refer to the possibility of advance payments under CAP, as was done in 2015. In addition my Department is in the final stages of issuing €26.4m in direct aid to dairy farmers funded by the exchequer and the EU.
Furthermore, with respect to financial instruments, I welcome the proposal for the European Investment Bank (EIB) and member states to work together with the Commission on the feasibility of an EU export credit tool. However, I believe the EIB needs to be more proactive in designing loan products in partnership with member states.
It remains clear that we need to deal urgently and effectively with this temporary problem. We must ensure that EU farmers are protected from the worst impacts of low commodity prices in an appropriate way, but remain well placed to avail of emerging opportunities when markets recover.
Ireland is strongly positioned as a competitive producer of dairy, and while conditions are extremely difficult at present, Irish dairy farmers will be well placed to avail of the opportunity presented by market recovery in due course.
194. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine for his assessment of the challenges facing the fisheries sector due to the implementation of the European Union Common Fisheries Policy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6527/16]
View answerThe new Common Fisheries Policy, in place since 2014, was the outcome of a long and complex negotiation process which formally began in 2009 with the publication of the European Commission’s Green Paper on Reform. Ireland established a Steering Group comprising relevant stakeholders under Dr. Noel Cawley to coordinate the extensive consultations that then took place over the following years. The Commission’s formal Reform proposals were published in 2011 and there followed two more years of intense negotiations before agreement was finally reached under the Irish Presidency in June 2013. Throughout the entire process the Irish fishing industry were kept fully apprised on all developments and their views were reflected in Irelands negotiating position throughout. As with all compromises, especially one involving 28 Member States and 751 MEPs, the final result did not please everybody and while the new CFP does certainly provide challenges for the fishing sector it also, in my view, provides opportunities.
The new CFP has moved away from the old system of EU wide development and application of the rules (a one size fits all approach). This is a significant change as, previously, fisheries decision making was completely centred in Brussels and any measure required the support of a majority of the Member States, even those with no fisheries interests in the area concerned. The new policy provides for decision making by the Member States concerned only, with mandatory consultation with the fishing sector and other stakeholders through the Advisory Councils to devise and implement measures that work for the types of fisheries in the region.
A key element of the new CFP that is both a challenge and an opportunity is the setting of fishing levels on the basis of MSY (Maximum Sustainable Yield). The opportunity is that this measure should ultimately lead to healthy fish stocks, higher quotas for Irish fishermen and lead to more sustainable fishing patterns. The challenge is that it has to be fully phased in for all stocks by 2020 and applied where possible immediately. This may lead to some short term pain but I am convinced that in the long term it is measures like this that will ensure that our coastal communities can look to the future with confidence that the stocks upon which they rely will still be abundant for a long time to come.
Another significant challenge facing our fishing industry is the introduction of a practical and phased discards policy or landing obligation. This has now been in effect since 1 January 2015 and will apply to all quota stocks by 2019. The phasing period was a key demand by Ireland during the negotiations and was designed to ensure that fishermen would have time to adjust and implement practical behavioural changes to avoid juvenile fish in particular. Change on this scale is always difficult, but this is a change that was essential if we are serious about ensuring the long term future of a sustainable and profitable fishing industry in Ireland.
In order to help our fishing industry manage the real challenges and opportunities arising from the new CFP, I also secured an investment of €240 million for the development of the Irish seafood industry and the coastal communities that depend upon it. This is more than double the amount that was available to Ireland during the previous round of funding and will ensure a strong fishing industry in Ireland that can grow and expand to meet its potential. It is, I believe, the level of the investment needed to meet the challenges and opportunities facing the Irish seafood industry.
195. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine why a person (details supplied) in County Cork has not received the promised reimbursement for a penalty levied in error for the period 2009 to 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6550/16]
View answerFollowing a further review of penalties applied in respect of ineligible features on land declared by the person named for the period 2009-2013, I can confirm that supplementary payments are due in respect of this period arising directly from this review. There are no outstanding payments for 2014. I have arranged for manual payments to issue in respect of 2009 and 2010, which will issue in the coming days. Additional payment runs in respect of the 2011, 2012 and 2013 applications will be arranged as soon as possible facilitating the payment of the outstanding amounts due in respect of these application periods.
196. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on an application by a person (details supplied) in County Galway under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme; why this application was not successful; if, in deciding on the application, he considered that the person was previously a participant under the agri-environment options scheme, does not have tier 1 lands and is a small farmer situated in a disadvantaged area; if he will consider another scheme for such persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6552/16]
View answerAn application for Tranche 2 of the GLAS Scheme for the person named was received on the dedicated GLAS online system on the 7 December 2015. The unprecedented level of applications to the Scheme has meant that for GLAS 2, priority is being given to what are called Tier 1 and Tier 2 candidates, i.e. those who either manage key environmental assets like endangered birds, protected habitats or high-quality water courses, or who have committed to undertake particularly valuable environmental actions like growing feed-crops for wild birds, adopting low-impact tillage techniques or using low-emission slurry spreading methods.
Farmers had been urged to present the highest standard environmental plans under GLAS 2, and to adopt actions that would promote them from Tier 3 to a higher tier, thereby significantly increasing the chance of selection. Over 80% of applicants in this second tranche of GLAS opted to do so, and with the funding available were approved.
An applicant’s previous participation in the Agri-Environment Options Scheme is not considered as part of the selection process for GLAS applications.
As the application for the person named was ranked as a Tier 3 application it was not selected into the scheme.
A third tranche of GLAS (GLAS 3) will open later this year and the person named and any applicant who was unsuccessful in the second tranche will have the opportunity now to re-examine their proposed farm-plan, in consultation with their advisor, and see how it might be improved to increase their chance of selection under GLAS 3.
197. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Cork will receive a decision on an appeal under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6554/16]
View answerThe EU Regulations governing the administration of the Direct Payment Schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases on farm inspections, be completed to confirm eligibility under the schemes. The 2014 application of the person named, under the Single Payment/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme, was selected for a Remote Sensing inspection. This initial inspection identified an over-declaration in area between 3% and 20%. Under the Terms and Conditions of these schemes this resulted in the 2014 payments being based on the found area being reduced by double the difference between the area found and the area declared. The person named was notified of this decision on 9 December 2014. Payments, on this basis, under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme and Disadvantaged Areas Scheme issued to the nominated bank account of the person named on 15 December 2014 and 23 December 2014, respectively.
A review of the outcome of this inspection identified the need for the verification of the position on the ground by means of a field visit. This inspection identified further discrepancies between the area declared and the area determined resulting in an over-declaration in area of greater than 50% under both the Single Payment and the Disadvantaged Areas Schemes. Based on the Terms and Conditions of these schemes this resulted in no payment being due in respect of 2014 and the application of administrative fines to be offset against future EU payments. The person named was notified of the outcome of this further inspection on 27 April 2015.
As payments had already issued under the 2014 Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Schemes, my Department was required to recover the over-payments from future payments, including REPS payments, issuing to the person named. The person named has sought a review of this decision and this review process is nearing completion. The person named will be notified directly of the outcome.
In the event that the person named is dissatisfied with the outcome of this review the decision can be appealed to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office, within 3 months.
198. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for the delay in issuing payments to a person (details supplied) in County Cork under the disadvantaged areas scheme and the single payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6557/16]
View answerThe above herd number was created and registered under the person named and another family member on 6 March, 2015. Under EU Regulation 1307/13 only persons who were eligible to receive a direct payment under the 2013 scheme year may receive an automatic right to be allocated entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015. Consequently the person named does not qualify for an automatic right to participate in this Scheme. My Department received no applications under the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme to transfer an allocation right and reference value from another farmer. An official from my Department will make direct contact with the person named to discuss their case further.
An application under the 2015 Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Scheme was received from the person named on 29 May 2015. Payment under the ANC scheme issued directly to the nominated bank account of the person named in March 2016.
