Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A new charter of farmers' rights was negotiated and came into effect in 2015 following consultation with the various farm organisations. A monitoring committee, under the chairmanship of Dr. Seán Brady, is charged with the ongoing review of the charter. The committee is supposed to meet four times each year. We aspire to meet but we do not always do so. The staff in the Department aspire to meet. There are resource issues as I alluded to earlier. Difficulties were associated with the transition period to a new basic payments system from the single farm payment. One of the issues that gave rise to the greatest number of complaints was AEOS. Those complaints arose on foot of the complexity of the scheme. The Department is committed to the highest standard of service delivery to customers and the farming community. I know the frustration felt by a farmer who telephones the Department and is unable to pursue his inquiry to its logical conclusion and who then, when he telephones a week later, must deal with a different person. I have discussed this issue in-house.

Members will note in the Estimates a provision for staff costs and improvements in respect of expenditure in that area in 2016. It is worth bearing in mind that in the period 2008 to 2015 there was a 28% reduction in staff numbers in the Department. That is a very significant staff reduction at a time when the range and complexity of schemes was moving in the other direction. We have reached a critical situation and we are beginning to rebuild capacity in some critical areas. I hope that will lead to service improvements in payments to farmers. Obviously, the farmers' charter of rights is always there as a stick in respect of our in-house performance. I am committed to working towards having the best systems in place. Some of that will flow from the increased provision in the budget for staff improvements. It is a modest improvement. It provides for 200 staff in the 12 months period who are filling gaps in critical areas. That is one of the critical areas. I have been in Portlaoise in the direct payments offices and have discussed this issue with the key staff involved. I hope we will not have a repetition of those delays at the back end of this year.

Overall, it is worth bearing in mind that the overwhelming majority of farmers receive their payments promptly. However, there is a core residue. If a farmer is of that core residue, he or she will telephone Deputies Cahill, McConalogue, Martin Kenny and Pringle or the Chairman and they will all be chasing the issue. We need to put in place a system that obviates the necessity for that kind of a merry-go-round and that will allow farmers to utilise a direct access point and prosecute their inquiries effectively. That is the ambition and that is what the charter is about also.