Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 25 October 2017
237. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on putting the farmers charter on a statutory basis with respect to ensuring payments are paid on time to farmers under the rural development programme. [45338/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Farmers' Charter of Rights is effectively an agreement between farm representative organisations and my Department. It sets down, inter alia, agreed target timelines for delivery of payments in respect of the schemes operated by my Department.
A Farmers’ Charter of Rights Monitoring Committee is in place under an independent chair to monitor these agreed targets. This Committee is comprised of representatives of the main farm organisations and staff of my Department. The Monitoring Committee has met on eight occasions since its establishment under the current Charter (including on three occasions this year), with a further meeting scheduled for 14 December.
The operation of a number of schemes covered by this Charter is governed by EU/National legislation while others are governed by national law only. The very ambitious targets that my Department strives to achieve under the Charter - targets which compare extremely favourably with the payment timeframes of our EU counterparts - cannot legally supersede national or EU law. The Charter cannot grant rights which would affect or change the operation of those laws in so far as they apply to the Schemes in question. Accordingly, it is not possible to put the Farmers’ Charter of Rights on a statutory footing.
