Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)

REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007-13 and is subject to different EU regulations from the preceding versions of REPS. Under REPS 4, all payments are to be made in just two instalments. The first payment of 75% can be made only when all administrative checks on all 2008 applications for REPS 4 and the single payment scheme are completed. These include checks on areas and on plan details and the controls have to satisfy stringent EU regulatory and audit requirements.

Some 9,800 REPS 4 plans have been prepared using eREPS, the electronic planning system approved and funded by the Department. The information on these plans is in computerised format and it was necessary to develop an appropriate computer-based control system for checking them. This was a lengthy process and the system was only available from late autumn. The substantial minority of plans submitted this year that were not prepared using eREPS — about 3,000 — have to be checked manually and this is extremely time-consuming. Industrial action in the Department's local offices last year meant that this part of the process was delayed. In the circumstances, the Department sought some flexibility from the European Commission which would have allowed payment of those REPS 4 cases which had been fully cleared, but the Commission was not prepared to allow it.

The first payments for 2008 REPS 4 applications were issued in the last week of January to those whose applications required no correction following the administrative checks. Further payments continue to be made.

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