Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 February 2018
82. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to problems with issued knowledge transfer payments particularly for partnership farms; the steps he will take to rectify the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7138/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Knowledge Transfer Programme is one of the key measures included under Ireland’s Rural Development Programme, 2014-2020. Over 19,000 farmer participants are currently registered to Knowledge Transfer (KT) Groups in six sectors. Farmers are required to attend a number of group KT meetings and/or KT Events and also complete an individual Farm Improvement Plan (FIP) following one to one discussion with their Group Facilitator.
The Programme launched in summer 2016, with the first year of the three year cycles running to end May 2017 – this was subsequently extended to end July 2017. In order for payments to be made to both facilitators and farmers, the FIP must be completed and key data points uploaded onto the KT online system and the requirement to attend the required number of meetings must also be met.
Farmer participants are due €750 for completion of commitments under the KT Programme each year. The associated KT Facilitator is paid €500 per participant where s/he meets all the requirements of the programme. In the case of a farmer participating in a KT Group in a second sector, the associated reimbursement is €375 with €250 paid to the KT Facilitator. Farmers are permitted to participate in a maximum of two KT Groups in different sectors.
Under EU Regulations, no payment can be made directly to farmers for training. Thus, the payment must be structured as a reimbursement for costs and must be paid to the farmer by the KT facilitator.
Under the Farmer’s Charter, my Department committed to commencing payments on the KT Programme in the three months following the end of year one. In line with this commitment, payments commenced in October 2017. To date, 13,740 farmer payments in the amount of circa €10.1 million have issued across all 6 KT Sectors. Payments of circa €6.7 million have issued to KT facilitators. Further pay runs are in place to pay cases as they become clear.
Officials in my Department are currently addressing a payment issue which has arisen in relation to KT payments for partnership farmers. The issue arises from the requirement to match data in their Farm Improvement Plan to the individual farmer participant in the Registered Farm Partnerships for payment purposes. This issue is being addressed as a matter of priority, with a view to issuing payment to affected farmers as soon as possible.
