I thank the Chair for affording me the opportunity to say a few words on this important topic. The problem about which I will speak arose last Friday week, 30 April. On that date the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry announced that it had suspended the CFP, the control of farmyard pollution scheme. This means, effectively, that no further applications for grants for the erection of buildings will be accepted. There are 16,500 applications on hand throughout the country some of which have been dealt with. In other cases, although schemes had been devised with the assistance of the Farm Development Service there was no one available to type them. Consequently, farmers could not proceed with the work.
Under the rural environment protection scheme farmers received almost £50 per acre up to a maximum of 100 acres, or approximately £5,000 per year for a five-year period, amounting to £25,000 during that period. In the first year of implementation of the schemes farmers were required to put in place facilities to control farmyard pollution. That meant installing a tank or building a slatted house, involving an investment of perhaps £30,000 or £40,000. Since the scheme under which grants were paid has been suspended, grants will not now be paid in respect of such buildings. I am not sure whether the suspension is a temporary arrangement, but at present farmers cannot proceed with their plans.
One might ask why there was such a delay between the time farmers applied under the scheme and a visit from the Farm Development Service officials. The spring of 1995 was very wet and many people suffered severe hardship from flooding. In Roscommon, 340 applications were lodged under the flood relief scheme — I presume the numbers in other counties affected are similar. That scheme was treated as urgent by the Department, and rightly so, but as a result the control of farmyard pollution scheme was neglected.
The position in Roscommon has been compounded by a shortage of clerical staff. In some cases farms were visited and the necessary plans drawn up but there was no clerical staff to deal with the applications. Last September the Department was made aware of the shortage of clerical staff in Roscommon and has been reminded of it on two or three occasions since then, but action was not taken in time. About a fortnight ago, a young lady was appointed to the Roscommon office and she has done tremendous work, but it was a case of closing the door when the horse had almost bolted as the scheme was suspended a few days later, on 30 April. I ask the Minister to ensure that people who applied on or before Friday, 30 April are accepted for the scheme and that the grants are paid.
