Vol. 554 No. 5
255 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position in relation to an agreement by his Department to recoup REP scheme repayments over a four year period commencing in 2001 in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if his attention has been drawn to the fact that premium payments were withheld in 2002 which is in breach of the agreement. [15681/02]
I indicated in reply to a previous question, No. 141 of 24 October 2001, that my Department was prepared to accept quarterly payments from the person named if the balance of the debt was repaid within four years and that he should contact my officials to confirm the arrangement.
On 31 October 2001 the person named telephoned my Department and agreed to have the balance of the debt recouped from other schemes. However, my Department received no written confirmation from him of any repayment schedule, and as a result it was necessary to continue the recoupment of the outstanding debt from payments to which he would have been entitled under other schemes. The balance now outstanding is €3,049.35.
No interest has been added to the debt since the person named first indicated to my Department in June 2001 that he was prepared to agree a schedule of repayments. My officials will now write to him directly and endeavour to make an agreement with him to recover the balance of the debt over a period that is suitable to his circumstances. In the meantime, no further recoupments will be made from payments due to him under other schemes.
