Vol. 512 No. 5
29 Ms Coughlan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the progress, if any, made in allowing farmers submit application forms for headage and premia schemes by e-mail as envisaged in the Information Society report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26334/99]
In January of this year the Government adopted an action plan for implementing the Information Society in Ireland. This plan sets out commitments over a whole range of actions including: investment in telecommunications infrastructure; the development of electronic commerce or e-commerce; putting in place the necessary legislative and regulatory measures to enable e-commerce to operate.
In so far as my Department is concerned the shift from a policy of price support to direct income support in the 1992 CAP reform agreement was accompanied by more detailed application forms and more onerous administrative requirements for farmers. The reform package with new and revised schemes, integrated administration and control provisions and the setting of very rigorous standards of accountability to the EU was also a major challenge for my Department.
I believe that sufficient progress has been made in recent years in delivering services using information technology. Indeed it is obvious that without extensive use of IT it would not be possible to deliver services in an efficient manner. Since the middle of this year my Department has been conducting a major review of its IT strategy. This has been done in association with external consultants and I expect to receive the final report very soon.
The IT strategy and plan will spell out what needs to be done to upgrade our IT systems in order to meet the various challenges ahead including those flowing from Agenda 2000. More effective integration of IT systems will provide the basis for better linkage between my Department and its clients. The question of submission of application forms electronically and indeed moving to a system of electronic funds transfer for various payments will be examined as part of this re-development. Any move to accepting premia and headage application forms by e-mail would of course have to be approved by the EU Commission. That body recently indicated that it is examining the question of electronic signatures and will issue appropriate guidelines to member states when that examination is completed.
