Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 1 February 2018
230. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to problems with issued knowledge transfer payments particularly for partnership farms; the steps he will take to rectify the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5021/18]
View answerKnowledge Transfer is one of a suite of measures included under the Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 and involves the formation of knowledge transfer groups across the beef, dairy, equine, sheep, tillage and poultry sectors. Farmer participants attend group meetings and produce a Farm Improvement Plan in consultation with their KT Facilitator. For each year of the three year programme participants receive a reimbursement in the amount of €750 for a primary sector and €375 for a secondary sector where all requirements of the programme have been met.
Payments under the programme commenced in late October 2017. To date circa €10.1 million has issued to 13,700 farmers. Officials in my Department are currently examining a number of partnership cases to ensure that there is a data match between individual Farm Improvement Plans and the individual farmer within the Register of Farm Partnerships. Every effort is being made to complete this process quickly with a view to paying affected farmers as soon as possible.
