Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
Joe Walsh
Ceist:
42
Mr. J. Walsh
asked the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry
the steps, if any, he has taken to ensure that the problems and payment delays in relation to area aid applications in 1996 will not be repeated in 1997.
[10734/97]
John Ellis
Ceist:
43
Mr. Ellis
asked the
Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry
when the outstanding 20 per cent instalment of the 1996 special beef and suckler cow premia and the full 1996 extensification premia will be paid; and the amount due to farmers under each scheme.
[10744/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 42 and 43 together.
The position is that to date some £683 million has been paid to farmers under the various 1996 headage and premia schemes. Payment of 20 per cent balances under the 1996 EU special beef premium scheme and the EU suckler cow premium scheme commenced on 19 February and 20 February 1996 respectively. To date some 93 per cent of applicants have been paid their balances under the May 1996 suckler cow premium scheme while some 92 per cent of applicants under the 1996 special beef premium scheme have been paid their balances. Full payments under the October 1996 suckler cow premium will commence at the beginning of May when the retention period has expired. It is expected that payment of 1996 extensification premium will commence in early May and be completed in all cases by the end of June in line with the Charter of Rights for Farmers and EU requirements.
The estimated amount remaining to be paid by way of balancing payments under the 1996 suckler cow scheme is £8.6 million while the estimated amount remaining to be paid by way of balancing payments under the 1996 special beef premium scheme is £14.5 million. The estimated value of 1996 extensification premium is £62 million.
The Charter of Rights for Farmers provides that most balancing payments would be completed by the end of March and the remainder by the end of June in line with EU requirements. The fact that so many balancing payments have already been made is a very significant achievement given the increased levels of checks and controls associated with the land parcel identification system (LPIS). This involves digitising all land parcels on maps submitted by farmers and the purpose of the LPIS is to provide my Department with a database whereby land parcels being claimed for area aid purposes can be located, identified, and have area values and land use attributed. Furthermore, the system ensures that parcels of land are not overclaimed by farmers or that the same parcel is not claimed by more than one farmer in any given year. In a minority of cases certain problems have arisen under the system in identifying all of the land parcels being claimed. In come cases there are apparent overlaps between parcels being claimed by two or more farmers and in other cases the area aid application form was not fully completed which led to difficulties in associating parcels being claimed against maps supplied.
My Department is making every effort, including making contact with farmers in many cases, to have the outstanding problems sorted out with a view to issuing outstanding balancing payments at the earliest opportunity.
As the Deputies will appreciate the introduction of a land parcel identification system was an extremely large project involving over 130,000 farmers who between them submitted just under 500,000 maps comprising some 750,000 land parcels.Given the size of the project and the short timeframe within which to complete it, it was not surprising that some problems arose with its introduction last year.
However, considerable effort has been devoted to addressing the problems which arose on the 1996 area aid applications. Amendments identified on the 1996 applications have been taken into account in updating the system for 1997.
Pre-printed 1997 area aid applictions have now been distributed to farmers. Maps have also issued to the overwhelming majority of applicants.My Department has written to those farmers who, because of outstanding problems, will not receive maps. These farmers have been asked to identify the townlands in which their land is located and my Department will send them maps on which they can identify their land.
As a further improvement on last year, the 1997 maps are printed against a photographic background and are centred on individual farms rather than on a townland as was the case in 1996. A free-phone helpline is also operating in the area aid unit to assist farmers who may have difficulties and the Department's local offices and Teagasc have been briefed on responses to possible problems arising with the 1997 area aid applications.In addition arrangements are in place to issue receipts to applicants within two to three weeks of receipt of area aid forms in the Department.
While the LPIS, as with any mapping system, will be subject to on-going amendment, I am satisfied that the additional development of the LPIS over the past year will eliminate many of the problems experienced by farmers when it was first introduced.
