Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

The farm improvement scheme was launched by my Department in July 2007 and funding for the scheme was agreed under the partnership agreement, Towards 2016, as part of an overall programme of investment in the agri-food sector. A total of €350 million was provided for farm waste and other on-farm investment measures, of which €79 million was provided for investments in farm improvements. I had indicated, at the time of the launch of the scheme, that the scheme would be terminated when this financial ceiling had been reached. Accordingly, I announced last week that, as applications under the farm scheme had reached this level of funding, it would close to new applications for now. Funding for the scheme is provided as part of the overall package of measures amounting to €8.6 billion of funding for the agri-food sector which was agreed under the partnership agreement and is set out in the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

The scheme has proved to be extremely popular to farmers, as evidenced by the number of applications received, particularly in the last few weeks. More than 12,600 applications were received up to the closing date of the scheme and my Department will process these applications up to the level of funding available. This is in addition to 48,000 applications received under the farm waste management scheme. Payment of grant aid will issue in respect of all approved projects in due course when the work involved has been completed.

My Department is committed to expenditure substantially in excess of the €350 million provided for on-farm investment as a result of the large number of approvals under the farm waste management scheme. While there will not be an underspend in respect of my Department's on-farm investment schemes in 2007, I expect savings will arise on other demand or market-led schemes, expenditure on which is subject to a variety of external factors, including the pace of approval of state aids and rural development programmes at EU level, the completion of approved projects in the marketing and processing scheme within the year and a reduced reliance on intervention at EU level as a market management tool. Funding for the farm improvement scheme is provided under partnership, which provides for a review in 2008. In accordance with the terms of that agreement, the review will take stock of the outcomes achieved in the overall goals and will consider opportunities to refocus and reprioritise.

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