Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 March 2018
312. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 238 of 15 February 2018, if all the data requested have been compiled. [14839/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraFor Pillar 1, my Department does not have an allocation of funding per se from the National Vote. Rather, national ceilings are set out in the relevant EU Regulations, and the Department manages the expenditure on all Pillar 1 schemes with reference to these ceilings. The relevant ceilings as set out in the EU Regulations are as follows:
|
- |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
|
Ceiling |
€1,216m |
€1,215m |
€1,214m |
€1,212m |
€1,212m |
€1,211m |
€1,211m |
In managing Pillar 1 expenditure with reference to these ceilings, regular reports are compiled and submitted to the EU Commission. This reporting then underpins the drawdown of EU funds to match Pillar 1 expenditure already undertaken. Expenditure figures are collated in a number of different ways in order to fulfil the regulatory reporting requirements – for example, scheme year expenditure is tracked along with expenditure in a given calendar year. Across these levels of expenditure tracking there are also set EU rules for how expenditure is counted against the ceilings – for example, expenditure in respect of a given scheme year which is paid out in a different calendar year may in certain circumstances be required to be reported against both the calendar and scheme year ceiling.
Bearing these regulatory reporting requirements in mind, the following table sets out the number of farmers and the amount paid out to date in respect of each scheme year:
|
- |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
|
Payments to farmers |
€1,170m |
€1,194m |
€1,188m |
€1,168m |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Number paid |
121,985 |
126,923 |
124,517 |
123,073 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
These figures represent the amounts paid out under BPS, the Young Farmer Scheme, the National Reserve, Greening, and the Protein Aid Scheme. The figures are net of penalties and overpayments which may apply in certain circumstances.
In order to manage expenditure with reference to the ceilings, there are a number of other factors to be also taken into account. For example, in respect of the 2014 figure modulation is not included in these figures.
Also, the figures in respect of the reimbursement of the Financial Discipline are not included in the above table. Each year, a proportion of the Pillar 1 funds is withheld centrally at EU level to cater for any events which may give rise to the need to allocate money from the “Crisis Reserve” fund which this withheld money creates. If this reserve is not utilised, it is redistributed to individual Member States at a later date. For example, in June 2017 my Department made payments totalling €13.6m to 96,000 farmers who were eligible under the 2016 BPS. This money had previously been withheld at EU level from the 2015 BPS payments under the Financial Discipline rules. The payment of this Financial Discipline across scheme and calendar years also has to be taken into account in managing the expenditure with reference to the national ceilings.
For each annual ceiling, there will also be cases that fall to be paid outside the bulk of the payment runs made in the October to December period in each year. For example, particularly protracted legal cases, cases where errors remain to be rectified, and appeal cases will fall to be paid in later years. These cases also require to be taken into account in the management of the ceilings.
