Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am more than willing to come before the committee but it is about finding the time to do so, given everybody's schedule. I expect we will have that discussion early in the new year. I hope I have demonstrated that I am not shy about coming before the committee to answer questions.

The rural development programme has been a frustrating process for me as we had our plans in early and we submitted them well in advance of the deadline. The problem for the Commission is it has 118 different rural development programmes for which it is trying to get approval, and Ireland is one of them. Undoubtedly, the approval process will carry over to the new year. There is an added complication as if rural development programmes are not approved, there must be a carry-over of budgets from one year to the next, which also poses a new challenge for the Commission it must overcome. There is a series of elements stacking up.

The Commission has taken on extra staff and resources to try to make progress on the rural development programmes but in reality we will not get approval for our programme in time to be able to open schemes as early as I would like, which is in the first two months of next year. We have sought an alternative way of opening schemes, anticipating approval of the rural development programme at some stage in the first half of next year or, I hope, towards the end of the first quarter next year. I have discussed with the Commissioner - it has been checked from a legal perspective - whether there could be a letter of comfort indicating the Commission is happy with our schemes in principle but that formal approval of the rural development programme will take a bit longer. If we get that letter of comfort for the Department of Finance, I am confident we can open schemes on the back of it.

I am hoping to get the letter of comfort in January so that we can open schemes toward the end of the month or in early February. The green low-carbon agri-environment scheme is a priority because people are anxious to get on with it, but we are seeking the same assurances regarding the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme and a range of other supports. It is a realistic timeframe to seek to have the letter of comfort early in the new year, with a view to obtaining formal rural development programme approval later. In the meantime, we can get schemes open, which is really what farmers are seeking. I am being as blunt and open as I can be on this.

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