Vol. 531 No. 3
172 Mr. Crawford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the number of planning personnel or groups that have been sanctioned by his Department to submit farm plans for the new REP scheme; the number of plans received to date; the number which have been paid; and if he will make a statement on the way in which the new scheme is supporting farm income on this difficult farm income situation. [5850/01]
My Department has an obligation to ensure that all planners and planning agencies who wish to provide a service under REPS 2000 are suitably qualified to do so. To date, my Department has approved some 375 individual planners in 137 planning agencies to provide planning services under the new scheme. The process of examining planners' qualifications, and where necessary seeking additional information on their qualifications, is ongoing and further names will be added to the Department's list of approved planners in due course. The number of plans received by my Department up until 26 February 2001 was 686 and payments have been made in 136 cases.
REPS payments are calculated to recompense farmers for additional inputs and reduced outputs arising from farming in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. While REPS is not an income support scheme, therefore, research conducted by Teagasc has shown that farmers who follow REPS specifications are likely to farm more efficiently, and that their average farm incomes show more favourable trends than those of comparable farmers who are not in the scheme.
