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Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 February 2018

Tuesday, 13 February 2018

Questions (26)

Charlie McConalogue

Question:

26. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when the programme for Government commitment to increase areas of natural constraint, ANC, funding by €25 million in 2018 will be delivered; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7416/18]

View answer

Oral answers (6 contributions)

When will the programme for Government commitment to increase areas of natural constraint, ANC, funding by €25 million in 2018 be delivered and how does the Minister propose to distribute and allocate that funding among the categories of disadvantaged area payments?

I thank Deputy McConalogue for raising this issue. I am very aware of the importance of the areas of natural constraints, ANC, scheme which issues annual payments in excess of €200 million to more than 95,000 farmers. The ANC scheme has always been recognised as a very important support for rural society and farmers across the country who farm constrained lands. In light of the importance of the scheme, A Programme for a Partnership Government included a commitment to provide an additional €25 million for the scheme in 2018. I am pleased to confirm that this commitment was delivered in budget 2018 and that, subject to the European Commission’s approval of an amendment to Ireland's rural development programme, this new funding will be available for payment under the 2018 ANC scheme.

A number of different options were available in deciding how this additional funding was to be divided.  I was conscious of the need for money to be targeted at those farmers on lands with higher levels of constraint. With this in mind and having considered the views of stakeholders, I have decided to distribute the additional €25 million as follows: €13 million will be allocated to the mountain type land category; €9 million will be allocated to the more severely handicapped category; and €3 million will be allocated to the less severely handicapped category. These allocations will have the effect of increasing the current payment per hectare rates across all land categories. Those farming on what is known as mountain type land will see their payment increase from €109.71 to €135 on the first 10 ha and from €95.99 to €112 on remaining hectares up to a maximum of 34 ha. Farmers with land categorised as more severely handicapped lowland will see an increase from €95.99 to €104 per hectare up to a maximum of 30 ha, and those with less severely handicapped lowland will see an increase from €82.27 to €88.25 per hectare up to a maximum of 30 ha. I am satisfied that these increased payment rates are consistent with the underlying logic of the scheme, where the highest level of support is targeted at those who are faced with the highest level of constraint on their land. These changes must now be formally agreed with the European Commission by way of an amendment to our rural development programme. My officials have initiated this process, with a view to introducing these new rates for payment in 2018.

I thank the Minister for his response. I agree with him that the ANC payment is an important one. The vast majority of farm families, approximately 100,000, receive it. One of the benefits of this funding is that all of it goes directly to farmers. I also agree on the proposed method of distribution of the funding, which is very much in line what I had proposed. I think it is a fair way of doing it. It is important there is fairness in the land categorisation and that payments reflect the type of land that farmers have to farm.

Today, I am proposing that the increase in ANC funding this year be €50 million rather than the €25 million provided for in the budget. I note the Minister is smiling. Given the large underspend in his Department year on year, including in respect of rural development programmes, he has the capacity to be flexible with payments and to deliver for farmers. I would rather that the Minister would do that instead of smirking at the constructive suggestion I have made. The underspend in respect of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for last year was €78 million. It was €106 million in 2016. Can part of that underspend be used to increase ANC funding this year to €50 million and thus provide twice the level of funding to farmers this year than is currently proposed?

I find it ironic that Deputy McConalogue can raise this issue month after month and refuse to face up to the logic that what he proposes is robbing Peter to pay Paul. For example, the Deputy is suggesting that I would spend a farmer's entitlement under the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, in a different area. I cannot legally do that. The Deputy should reflect on what he is proposing. When Fianna Fáil was last in government, the underspend for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was €150 million. That same year, Fianna Fáil cut disadvantaged area payments and it abolished the installation aid schemes. I rest my case.

It would serve the Minister well to focus on his own record rather than take comfort from policies that might have happened in the past, from which we should be learning. The Minister should refrain from citing what happened ten years ago under previous Administrations to justify what he is doing now. We need to look at what is on the table. According to the statistics from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine there was an underspend of €78 million last year across various sections of his Department's budget. The year before that the underspend was €106 million after the reallocation of funds to other programmes under the Revised Estimates process. The capacity is there but the will is not. I do not propose to go into the GLAS statistics, but as the Minister is aware, €1.4 billion was promised but only €1 billion is being delivered, which is a shortfall of €400 million.

Before he puts the amendment to the proposed rural development programme to Europe, the Minister should consult his officials on the underspend in his Department with a view to an additional €25 million being allocated to the areas of natural constraint scheme and thus deliver increased income this year to farm families.

I have repeated my position ad nauseam but it has become something of a dialogue of the deaf between Deputy McConalogue and me. I do not propose to break a contractual commitment into which I have entered with a farmer in Donegal, Cork or any point in between and to reallocate that funding to other areas, be that GLAS, the beef data and genomics programme, BDGP, targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, or any other area under the rural development programme. Every cent that we are entitled to under the rural development programme will be spent.

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