Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. The payment of grants under the farm waste management scheme is an extremely important issue. In spite of a three-hour debate in the Dáil some months ago, the Minister refused to allow time for the people to finish the job, thus putting increased costs and pressures on the farmers concerned to have all the necessary paperwork in by 31 December 2008.

The only answer we and individual farmers can get from the Department is that no payments are available, even for those applications received long before the December deadline. This is an extremely serious situation and cannot be ignored by the Government. Nobody denies that this was a generous scheme but it had to be allowed so that farmers could meet the necessary regulations with regard to preserving the environment. The Minister explained last week that this came about as a result of a legal situation in Brussels. This only happened because for many years a Fianna Fáil-led Government ignored the problem and the regulations until the matter went to law, but that is no excuse for the hold up in payments today.

The Minister, Deputy Smith, and his Department knew exactly how many farm grants had been sanctioned and they knew especially how many applicants had sent in their cards showing clearly that work was in progress. However, the Minister and his Department totally failed to budget for this, as recently as the much heralded October budget in which so many other figures were completely inaccurate.

When this scheme was announced by the then Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Deputy Mary Coughlan, who is now Tánaiste, I specifically asked her in the House how she intended to fund the payments as it was clear to me, even at that early stage, that her Estimates were completely flawed. She assured me in no uncertain terms that money would not be a problem.

Farmers entered this scheme in good faith and bankers lent them significant sums of money on the clear understanding that the grants would be paid according to the agreed charter of farmers' rights. Many of the jobs cost more than farmers had originally budgeted for, due to weather conditions and pressures of time. It is vital that this money be paid immediately.

It is interesting that the prices of both ready-mix and steel have fallen dramatically within one month of the scheme ending. This proves that farmers were forced to pay over the odds in an unjustified rush to finish this work. Farm incomes are dropping. Farmers are under pressure. Farmers from the Minister's own county as well as my own contacted me in desperation. I urge the Minister to ensure that farmers are paid now or within the next two months at least.

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