Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

There is no actual saving in terms of reduced payments to farmers. The issue here is the year in which the payments are made. There have been no cuts in the agri-environment options scheme, and cuts in REPS only come into force this year, following the most recent budget. The payments that have carried over from one year into the next arose primarily because of mapping issues and those payments must be still made to farmers. As I said, we are rolling out the payments quicker than at any time in the past, but that does not mean there is no carryover between years.

My Department is very different from other Departments in that we have to put an Estimate together based on the best case scenario in terms of making all of the payments that could be possibly made in the next 12 months. Sometimes those payments cannot be made because of issues such as auditing, checks, inspections or blockages around mapping, as happened in this case. We will have an opportunity to go through each of the subheads in detail when the Estimates are brought before the Oireachtas committee. I look forward to that opportunity.

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