Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for the opportunity to raise this issue. This is a relatively new scheme that has been running for only two years. It is a welcome development from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and from the Minister, Deputy Coveney. If we are to meet our Harvest 2020 production targets, it is important that all farmers are on the same plain and continue to work with each other and advise each other on best ways of carrying out such work.

There is an issue with the scheme at present in that quite a number of farmers, in particular in County Galway, have not received any payment for it. The reason I raise this today is that the issues in a number of these cases seem to be very small. They seem to be issues that should be easy to fix and the punishment for the issues raised seems over the top. For example, one elderly man missed due to health reasons one of the five meetings that he was supposed to attend and his penalty was 100%. It seems excessive that a man who would miss one of these five meetings for health reasons is then thrown out of the scheme or not paid. Certainly, it has been communicated to him that he will not be paid.

There are other issues related to the BVD eradication scheme announced by the Department last year. Whereas last year it was not compulsory to take part in it and it was up to the farmer, this year that has changed. The vast majority of farmers did not know that going into the scheme this year. They now have been disqualified from it.

There are other issues where a great deal of this information is to be submitted online. If one ticked one box wrongly, there was no second chance. There was no way around it and the penalty was that one would receive no payment for it.

This, as we all will be aware, is against the backdrop of agriculture being in terrible crisis due to the bad weather. The issue of the fodder crisis has been raised in the past week already. The Department might consider these figures quite small, but for the individual farmer this is extremely serious. I call on the Minister today to ensure whatever can be done is done in order that these farmers are paid as soon as possible.

There is another issue with the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS, another farm payment. This problem arose last year and the Department does not seem to be able to get on top of it. Farmers have carried out the work they were expected to do. The Department is based in Johnstown Castle in Wexford from where it seems nearly impossible to get information. Over recent months I have become aware of farmers who have still to receive payment for this work and on telephoning the Department, one is told to come back to them in two weeks, three weeks or a month. Today, I telephoned to find out the position in the cases of two farmers and was told there are penalties on their applications. The farmers concerned do not know that.

As I stated, all of this is against the backdrop of a fodder crisis in the sector where farmers literally cannot afford to feed their cattle, and that will cause significant issues. The Minister cannot be blamed for the weather but he must understand where we are. I now hear talk of the Government encouraging the banks, the credit unions and co-operatives to be more lenient with farmers, but does it not understand that these are the ones with whom the farmers have the issue? The farmer needs the money to pay back the co-operative and the bank. Why would they be any easier in lending to these farmers in a situation where they are the ones to whom the farmers are supposed to be giving the money?

What I want to get across to the Minister is that there are issues with this scheme that are not being resolved. Farmers have still not been paid on their AEOS payments. It is impossible to get information out of Johnstown Castle as to why there is a problem on a farmer's application. If there is an issue, let us fix it. Allow the farmer the chance to fix that problem. These farmers need help and they are not getting it. We need to get it to them as soon as possible.

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