Vol. 485 No. 4
7 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers who have received their 1997 cattle headage and suckler cow payments up to, and including, 8 December 1997; the total number of farmers who applied for the 1997 cattle headage and suckler cow schemes; and if he will guarantee that all farmers will receive their payments before Christmas 1997. [23188/97]
The total number of farmers who had received almost £85 million under the 1997 cattle headage and beef cow schemes up to and including 8 December 1997 was 77,414, representing 86 per cent of the total applicants of 90,445 under these schemes. The comparable figure for the same date in 1996 was 85 per cent. The latest position is that almost 80,000 applicants or 88 per cent of the total under these schemes have been paid. This compares with 87 per cent of applicants paid at this time in 1996. A total of 64,236 farmers were paid £72.8 million under the 1997 suckler cow premium scheme up to the same date and this number represents 86 per cent of the total May 1997 suckler cow applicants of 74,719. The comparable figure for the same date in 1996 was 83 per cent.
Almost 67,000 suckler cow applicants or 89 per cent of the total have now been paid; 86 per cent of suckler cow applicants had been paid at this time in 1996. In the period since 1 January 1997 £733 million has been paid to farmers under the various headage, premia and arable aid schemes of which over £480 million relates to payments made under the 1997 schemes. To date this year some 1.409 million payments have been made of which 903,136 represent payments under the 1997 schemes, including payments made under the various EU BSE and agrimonetary compensation schemes.
Direct payments to farmers this year to date amount to £940 million. They are continuing to issue to farmers under all premium and headage schemes. It is expected that remaining eligible applicants will be paid before Christmas with the exception of real problem cases where herdowners have not returned the required information.
I thank the Minister for that information. The farmers' charter of rights was not adhered to and people were not paid when they should have been. There is a great deal of anxiety and bitterness and I do not have to tell the three Ministers because they hear about it every day.
As we are coming towards the end of Question Time, it would be better if the Deputy asked a question rather than providing information to the Minister.
We want him to know what is going on because one must tell him.
The Deputy knows that is bull.
It appeared from the Minister's reply that about 10,000 farmers did not get anything yet. Have all area aid applications been dealt with? If there is a residue in Hume House, many farmers will not get anything until well into 1998. Can it be taken that everything will be done with the problem cases? There are many problems, but some of the more frivolous ones could be overcome very quickly, without toing and froing in the Department between Hume House, Agriculture House and the DV offices. Can it be short circuited to ensure the majority of the 10,000 farmers will be looked after over the next few days?
There is a difficulty in the Department in getting 1.4 million payments out at different times during the year. Nonetheless we are, as a member state of the EU, the best country to make payments. That was acknowledge three weeks ago in the Irish Farmer's Journal, which boasts of being fearlessly on the farmers' side. All eligible cases have been paid, while problem cases are trickling back in where the Department has written to herdowners asking for information that was missing and they will continue to be paid up to Christmas and the new year.
There is a difficulty regarding area aid and Hume House. I was amazed and taken aback when I entered office that there were 27,000 problem cases. Some are still being sorted out but I do not know how many. I have asked that they be tidied up and regularised for next year so that we do not run into the same problem next year. They are not creating a difficulty now because we had to seek a concession from the EU to allow the payments.
We proposed that to the Minister.
I accept and thank the Deputies for that. I appreciate that the Commission gave us that but we cannot go back year after year getting concessions. I have directed that additional staff be placed in Hume House to tidy up that problem once and for all. It will be a great ease to everybody, in particular Deputy Ring, because if anybody has a record for tabling parliamentary questions, it must be he. It would save the taxpayer a few pounds as well.
They are all for media consumption.
The reason I do that is that the Minister is inefficient and he is not able to get his civil servants to do it.
The Deputy is not supposed to answer the Minister.
The departmental staff deserve thanks for their efforts over the past few weeks in trying to rectify a desperate situation. Why do inspectors visit farms in the weeks before Christmas for matters that should have been dealt with during the summer? A farmer called me yesterday to tell me an inspector had been on his farm on Monday and there is no possibility of him getting money. Why can these issues not be tidied up much earlier in the year to allow farmers to get their money on time?
Tabling parliamentary questions is a legitimate practice and all Members engage in it. When I was in Opposition I tabled many of them.
The Minister was good at it and he had all the answers.
Is this a mutual admiration society?
I would not leave Deputy Deasy out either.
It must be the Christmas spirit.
I remind the House that I established an inquiry line in the Department a number of years ago. A very courteous staff is involved who are professional and diligent in their work and will guarantee a reply in writing within 24 hours. It would be nice if that was used more.
I appreciate very much what Deputy Crawford said in paying tribute to the staff in Agriculture House and other offices around the country because all of them are sons and daughters of farmers anyway. Over the past three or four weeks, they have worked exceptionally hard, making an outstanding effort. They worked three eight hour shifts a day and at weekends.
In terms of control and checking there is an audit requirement. We have a Comptroller and Auditor General and the EU has an audit system. From time to time there are media reports on the audits. The amount of money is very large, £940 million, and everything must be done correctly and properly to account for every penny paid out. Within those constraints, I record my appreciation of the work done by the staff in the Department.
The main problem experienced has been the digitising of maps. Is it possible to introduce a new system in 1998 whereby applicants could be notified early in the event of a problem? We recognise the inheritance of 27,000 undigitised maps when the Minister assumed office. When applications are submitted for headage and other schemes a clearance certificate, attached to the application form, should be available to the applicant, to rectify the problem given that 80 per cent of applicants would have no changes in their land holdings from one year to another.
I wish the Minister, his colleagues and all the officials in the Department of Agriculture and Food a happy Christmas.
In regard to area aid, if the Minister's officials did not spend so much time going to Clare Island where there were only a few places——
The Deputy is out of order.
The Minister made an allegation and I want to respond. I will represent farmers as long as I am elected to this House.
The Deputy is back to his style again, hustle and bustle, huff and puff.
Unlike the Deputy, I am not a bluffer. The Government promised farmers everything and did nothing.
They got the wind energy.
It was high energy yield.
I acknowledge the good wishes from Deputy Connaughton and the tribute to the Department's staff. It is in contrast to the snide and ungenerous remarks of Deputy Ring. The staff in Castlebar and other parts of Mayo will be unimpressed by the insulting attitude to the staff in the Department of Agriculture and Food, who are outstanding.
I want the Minister to withdraw that remark immediately, I made no such remark. I am not a smart aleck.
In relation to digitilisation, there is a difficulty in Hume House. Additional staff——
The Minister told us he had something on the agenda and would raise the matter in Europe under any other business.
An outstanding job was done by the Department's staff in getting a large volume of payments out in such a short time. It is much appreciated by farmers throughout the length and breadth of the country.
How many times did the officials go to Clare Island?
I join in sending Christmas wishes to the Department's staff, the Minister and his colleagues.
Thank you.
