Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 April 2022
1921. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will allow farmers to repay BEAM funding over a much longer timeframe to improve their cashflow situation in the short term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20776/22]
View answerThe objective of the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) was to provide temporary exceptional adjustment aid to farmers in the beef sector in Ireland subject to the conditions set out in EU Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1132. Over 34,500 farmers had applied for BEAM at its closing date of 20 September 2019 and it saw some €78 million in payments issue to participating farmers.
One of the conditions under which funding was granted by the EU was that there had to be an element of re-structuring built into the scheme as set out in Article 1 (3) of EU Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1132. Accordingly, in applying for BEAM, participants agreed to reduce the production of bovine livestock manure nitrogen on their holding by 5% in either the original reduction period (1 July 2020 – 30 June 2021) or the deferred reduction period (1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021) when compared with the reference period of 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.
Approximately 22,000 participants did meet all the commitments set out in section 7.0 of the BEAM Terms and Conditions and thus successfully exited the scheme. A further approximately 11,000 participants did not meet some or all of the commitments set out in section 7.0 of the BEAM Terms and Conditions. As a result, recoupment of almost €18 million in over-payments has commenced.
As an Accredited EU Paying Agency, my Department must recover debts in respect of over-payments and penalties across a broad range of agricultural schemes, including the BEAM scheme. Debt recovery may be facilitated by means of direct repayment by the farmer or through deductions from other payments due. If a farmer is experiencing financial difficulties, payment by instalments over a period of time can be accommodated on a case-by-case basis. In such situations the farmer may contact the Accounts Division of my Department to discuss their circumstances and to arrange an appropriate payment plan. The availability of this facility was advised to affected BEAM participants when they were notified with details of their BEAM over-payment. The Department's Accounts Division can be contacted by telephone on (049) 4368207 or by email at debtrecovery@agriculture.gov.ie
