The Chair appreciates the patience and reasonableness of Deputies Andrew Boylan and Pat McCartan.
Extension of Severely Handicapped Areas.
I welcome the opportunity of raising this very serious subject this evening and seeking clarification from the Minister. The reclassification of all of Counties Cavan and Monaghan to the status of severely handicapped has been the subject of great debate since our entry into the EC. We have been requesting various Governments to bring about this important development for the farmers in the region but to date we have not been successful. I am sure the Minister is aware that the only time progress was made in having extensions granted in Cavan and Monaghan since our entry to the EC was when Fine Gael were in Government. As yet Fianna Fáil have never granted an extension of the severely handicapped areas in Cavan and Monaghan. The Minister of State is looking at me in amazement, but I know that that is correct. I should hope that the great injustice done will be put right this evening.
On 28 October 1990 in a Dáil debate on agriculture, the Minister said that on 4 February 1987 a submission from the former Government had been lodged with the Commission proposing reclassification of all disadvantaged areas to more severely handicapped status, the object of that was to secure higher grants and greater benefits for cattle farmers residing outside the more severely handicapped areas. That application was lodged but was later withdrawn by the incoming Government. Nothing but confusion has prevailed since. Various identification exercises and surveys have been carried out, all of them unnecessary. The best information I have to date is that the application in Brussels at present does not seek reclassification for all of the counties of Cavan and Monaghan. There was talk of bringing the figures to about 60 per cent in Cavan and possibly 34 per cent in Monaghan. However, the neighbouring and more prosperous counties of Longford and Roscommon — indeed, I congratulate them on being able to achieve it — have succeeded with applications for 100 per cent reclassification. Farmers in those regions with 200,000 gallon milk quotas are deemed to be severely handicapped while neighbours of mine in County Cavan with milk quotas of 10,000 gallons, and perhaps three, four or five small cattle following, are said by the present Minister for Agriculture to be not severely handicapped. That needs explanation. It is not acceptable.
Confusion has arisen from the statement made by the Minister for Agriculture and Food recently announcing the extension of the disadvantaged areas, which has no relevance at all to my constituency. We are waiting for the announcement of the reclassification from "disadvantaged" to "severely handicapped". The Minister says he will not be making that announcement for another month, yet the closing date for applications for headage payments under these schemes is 14 June 1991. Earlier this year the Minister for Agriculture and Food stated clearly on several occasions that payments would be made in the new areas this year.
I want clarification on two points. First, will all of Counties Cavan and Monaghan be classified as severely handicapped? I want a yes or no answer to that question. Second, will the payments in the new areas to be announced commence this year, and what mechanism does the Minister intend to use to allow farmers to apply after the closing date? That issue is creating great confusion. Never was it more important that the benefits available in Brussels be brought to our farmers in the Cavan-Monaghan region. There is the collapse of farm incomes, which is accepted right across the board, and the more recent news from Brussels of further serious cutbacks.
I say to people outside of farming that while I am making the case this evening for the farmers, the benefits beyond the farm gate, with extra money available in the economy, will generate a pile of activity. People in the concrete business, the hardware business and so on will say that activity has noticeably slowed down in their industries because of the fall in farm incomes. We are not paying out at the maximum level available to be paid from Brussels, but if those payments were made they would have the marvellous effect of generating a new boost and giving a lifeline to farmers, who see the future of farming as being very dismal. I look forward to the Minister's reply, and I have no doubt that he will clarify the points I have raised.
I thank Deputy Boylan for providing the opportunity of dealing with the matter in the short few moments we have available.
It is not necessary for me to go into the history of the application to have additional areas in the country designated as severely handicapped, that has been recorded many times in the House. The issue was first raised in 1987. There were difficulties with the original application. Since then the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy O'Kennedy, has made significant efforts for progression of the application with the Commission in Brussels.
As Deputy Boylan rightly says, the additional areas to be designated disadvantaged have just been announced. The Deputy, along with all Members in the House, must agree that the extension has been one of the most significant for many a long day. It will be of immense benefit to farmers within that catchment area.
I can tell Deputy Boylan, too, that the matter of reclassification is at present under consideration by the Commission. I cannot yet anticipate when a decision will be made, but I can say that Fianna Fáil Oireachtas Members from Counties Cavan and Monaghan have been pursuing the matter actively with the Minister for Agriculture and Food, reflecting their particular interest in that constituency.
I shall now come to the original point on the item for the Adjournment Debate. I am pleased to have this opportunity to explain to farmers in the extended areas how they should go about applying for headage payments this year.
First, I should explain that the application form which has issued to all herd owners has been redesigned to cover both the severely and less severely handicapped areas. Farmers in the new and existing areas should now apply and should list on their application forms all the animals on their farms. When a decision is made by the EC Commission in due course on the areas to be re-classified the Department will arrange to make the appropriate payments to farmers on the basis of the information contained in the forms.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Minister for Agriculture and Food has already announced the new areas which the Commission proposed be added to the existing less-favoured areas and I am confident that a Council decision on this proposal will not be long delayed. Officials of the Department are vigorously pursuing with the Commission the matter of the reclassification of areas and I am hopeful that the matter will be brought to finality without undue delay.
I may add that an advertisement will appear in the press in the coming week advising farmers in both the new and existing areas of the procedure for applying for headage payments this year.
May I ask the Minister a brief question?
That is not usual, but I shall allow just one brief question.
A dairy farmer would be entitled to headage payments in the new extended areas, but he will not have application forms posted to him. Only farmers in the suckler cow grant scheme——
The Deputy is giving information, he is not asking a question.
I am asking the Minister how those people can be expected to know about applying when they do not know whether they will be included.
As I told the Deputy, the Department will take due account of the requirements when the final decision is made.