Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 14 Dec 1995

Vol. 459 No. 8

Written Answers. - Kearney Report Recommendations.

Joe Walsh

Ceist:

141 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on the recommendation of the Kearney report on the creation of a new recording system, that the ultimate objective should be to permit any relevant unit within the Department or, where appropriate, outside agencies, to have ready access to records for analysis purposes: and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19004/95]

Joe Walsh

Ceist:

142 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on the Kearney Report that recommended disallowing farmers over 66 years of age from receiving headage, disallowing farm households from entitlement to headage if their income exceeds a certain level, reducing the ceilings of animals qualifying for headage payments, simplifying the administration of the five headage schemes by consolidating all five schemes into a single payment and recipients of sheep headage to be requested to substantially reduce their numbers in certain designated areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19005/95]

Joe Walsh

Ceist:

143 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the specific points on which consultants were asked to come up with recommendations for the Kearney Report; the specific matters on which the consultants were asked to comment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19006/95]

Joe Walsh

Ceist:

144 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if his Department commissioned the study entitled Evaluation of the Compensatory Allowances Scheme in Ireland, generally known as the Kearney Report; the total cost of the study; the number of tenders considered; the price of the lowest tender; the name of the company that submitted the lowest tender; and if the lowest tender was accepted. [19007/95]

Tony Killeen

Ceist:

146 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the terms of reference for the consultant's report on animal premia schemes recently presented to the Government. [19053/95]

Tony Killeen

Ceist:

148 Mr. Killeen asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry when he will publish the consultancy report on cattle and sheep headage schemes recently compiled for the Government; and if he will make a statement on its findings and proposals. [19056/95]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

I propose taking Questions Nos. 141, 142, 143, 144, 146 and 148 together.

Under the Community Support Framework for Ireland, 1994-1999, it was agreed that an independent evaluation of the Compensatory Allowances Scheme would be carried out "to examine the balance between income support and development measures with a view to ensuring that farming can become more self-reliant and integrated into the rural economy". This evaluation was requested by the Commission as it felt that the share of funding being devoted to this scheme was very high — £642 million (62 per cent) — as against a total of £1,034 million for the agriculture and rural development elements of the operational programme. Accordingly, my Department commissioned this evaluation in accordance with normal tendering procedures as set out in the Code of Practice for Government Departments Employing Management Consultants. The cost of the report was £22,143.

As already indicated in my reply to Questions Nos. 32 and 66 on 16 November, the areas the consultant was asked to examine were as follows:

—the balance between investment and income support measures under the Operational Programme for Agriculture, Rural Development and Forestry

—the extent to which the scheme contributes towards its main objective of maintaining the population in disadvantaged rural areas

—the question of better targeting the low income farmer

—simplification of the scheme

—the extent to which the scheme is contributing to the overgrazing problem in certain sensitive areas

—the question of fundamentally improving the collection of data so that it can be more easily analysed and evaluated.

As also indicated in my reply of 16 November, the farming bodies have been supplied with copies of the report which has also been placed in the Dáil Library.

Officials of my Department recently had preliminary discussions with representatives of the European Commission on the findings of the report. The report is now being assessed in my Department in the light of those discussions prior to meeting with the farming bodies. When I have come to final conclusions on the report, more substantive discussions with the Commission will be necessary.