Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

At the bottom there could be a commentary on likely overruns and underruns. We could request all of this information under freedom of information. However, it would be handier if we were just given it.

I would like to get a breakdown of the various grades of staff in the Department and agencies under its aegis. For example, in the case of Teagasc I want to know how many staff are researchers and how many are administration. It is important we do not cut research staff at that agency. If we could get this breakdown, we could make informed decisions about savings in administration. I believe we must put the knife in and insist under the Croke Park agreement that much more efficient methods are brought into departmental administrative systems. The Minister often speaks about the legacy Fianna Fáil left. In my view that agreement was a good legacy. There were difficulties in getting new technology accepted in Departments to allow for faster methods of doing things. If we are going to engage in this process, it is important we get those figures.

The Minister decided to cut payments in the DAS using stocking levels as the basis. However, farms in mountain areas have low stocking levels due to land use. Now the Minister finds he has to give a derogation in cases involving small mountain farms. There are also different rates of payment in each of the three categories: less favoured areas, LFAs, get €80, very disadvantaged get €90 and it is a mixture on the mountains between €90 and €100. The basis of the DAS is that one gets paid for the amount of disadvantage associated with the land quality in one’s region. There are parts of the country that do not get DAS because they are deemed to be good land. Will the Minister give us the relative productivity of farms in good land areas, LFAs and the mountain areas? If we knew that, then we could decide on the relative support to balance the DAS.

May I answer some of those questions because I do not want to run out of time? They are fair questions.

When the Deputy asked about derogation and the appeals process, he was referring to the criteria we introduced for the stocking rate. We stated that farmers will only qualify for a disadvantaged areas payment this year if their stocking rate was 0.3% of a stocking unit per hectare rather than 0.15%. The 0.3% figure none the less represents an incredibly low stocking rate but some parts of the country are more rock than grass and there is a reason for allowing a stocking rate of less than 0.3%. Those individuals are getting the derogation. Similarly, if farms have a low stocking rate because of illness in the family, transfer of land or another valid reason we will try to take that into account. However, one of the reasons for these criteria is that certain individuals are putting the bare minimum number of stock on the land for the shortest possible period to draw down payments. As we can no longer afford that type of luxury, we are trying to differentiate between genuine applicants who are trying to farm with a reasonable stocking rate and those who, for example, are farming in areas such as counties Meath and Kildare and are purchasing or renting land in upland areas of counties Sligo and Donegal to keep sheep at the bare minimum stocking rate for three months of the year. There are instances of flocks of sheep moving between farms in order to allow everyone to draw payments.

We can potentially do more in that area and even if we were not planning cuts we would probably make similar adjustments with the same budget to ensure those who deserve the money the most are getting it. Under CAP reform we are being asked to be more scientific in categorising disadvantaged areas. Instead of designating geographical regions in order that Ireland west of a certain line is automatically a disadvantaged area, we might provide details on a parish by parish basis of the depth of the soil, moisture retention qualities, climate and stocking rate to allow us to make a scientific argument around disadvantage. We are in the midst of that assessment but it probably will not be completed until the end of 2015. It is a significant project to break the country into different regions based on levels of disadvantage. The work will also gives rise to significant political problems if we start to break up areas that are currently considered disadvantaged into pockets that may or may not be disadvantaged. It may not be possible to deal with the issue within the CAP reform process and it may be kicked on to be dealt with afterwards. The kind of detail that Deputy Ó Cuív seeks cannot be produced overnight. The process of deciding an appropriate mechanism for determining disadvantage requires co-operation from farming organisations and farmers themselves, as well as a considerable amount of scientific work in the fields. The question then arises of how farmers can be supported through a scheme that reflects the process. By all means let us have a discussion but the issues arising are not straightforward.