Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers who have not been paid their single farm payment in each of the years 2005 and 2006 due to difficulties over inheritance issues or partnerships; her views on whether young farmers should be given all the support necessary and payments made a priority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4082/07]

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The position in so far as payment under the 2005 single payment scheme is concerned is that some €1.199 billion has been paid to over 128,200 applicants, 99.9% of total eligible applicants, including €14.3 million in refunding the modulation reduction on the first €5,000 paid to each applicant.

There are a small number of cases which have not yet been paid. In some instances, the Department is awaiting legal documentation in the cases involving inheritance applications. There are other cases where farmers submitted 2005 single payment application forms but never submitted an application for the transfer of the single payment entitlements to them. The Department is arranging to make direct contact with the persons involved requesting them to submit the transfer application form immediately. The number of cases involved at this stage is extremely small but it is the Department's intention to pursue all of these cases in order that the farmers involved have an opportunity to apply for the transfer of entitlements.

The Department will process these applications as soon as they are received. If they are in order, the entitlements will be transferred to the 2005 single payment scheme applicant and payment for both 2005 and 2006 will be issued. Under the 2006 single payment scheme, €1.197 billion has been paid to 123,300 applicants. Full payment has been issued to 122,200 farmers, while a further 1,100 farmers have received the 50% advance payment. Farmers paid by the Department to date under the 2006 scheme account for almost 97% of all applicants. Any cases remaining to be paid are generally under query for one reason or another. The timely issue of payments to all farmers, including young farmers, is a priority for the Department.

The introduction of the single payment scheme in 2005 brought the new concept of payment entitlements into the direct payments system. Payment entitlements are not attached to land but are the property of the farmer active during the reference period and in receipt of direct payments under one or more of the livestock premium and arable aid schemes.

Payment entitlements may now be sold with or without land, but can only be sold without land once 80% has been used in one calendar year. On the other hand, entitlements may be leased to another farmer only if accompanied by an equivalent number of hectares of eligible land. Entitlements may also, of course, be transferred, with or without land, by gift or through inheritance. The registration details of entitlements may also be changed, for example, from one name to joint names or to partnerships.

It is incumbent on the Department to maintain a database of entitlements containing the name and herd number under which entitlements are registered with a view to ensuring that payment be issued to the correct holders of the entitlements for any year. When entitlements are transferred from one farmer to another or when the registration details of the herd number are changed, the parties must complete an application to have the registration details of the entitlements changed.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The application forms to be completed by farmers engaged in transferring or changing the registration details of entitlements are available through the Department's website and local offices, as well as at Teagasc offices.

The closing date for receipt of applications to transfer entitlements for 2006 was 16 May 2006. However, where an entire holding and entitlements are being transferred within the ten-month period, such applications may be accepted at any time during the ten months. Some 6,000 applications have been received in the Department to transfer entitlements for the 2006 single payment scheme. Approximately 2,300 of those applications were received after the closing date and many have been received only in the past couple of months. Those late applications are, nevertheless, being processed.

The Department is making every effort to have all those applications processed as quickly as possible. Applications for the sale of entitlements with land, the lease of entitlements, the transfer of entitlements by gift or inheritance, or the transfer of entitlements to partnerships must be accompanied by appropriate documentation such as a copy of the deed of transfer or lease agreement. In over 50% of cases, the required documentation was not furnished with the original applications, thus necessitating further contact with the parties involved.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State profusely for giving so much information for which I did not ask.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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It is always good to be informed in opposition.

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Some things are useful.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. I have a certain anxiety for what may be a small number of farmers, although I have still not found out how many are owed moneys under the 2005 or 2006 schemes.

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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The figure for 2005 is approximately 100.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I simply ask how many have not been paid. I have serious anxieties regarding those young people encouraged by their parents, uncles or aunts to stay in farming through being granted use of the land by deed, transfer or partnership. There seems to have been a dreadful breakdown in the operation of the scheme. In one recent case, a Teagasc adviser had never heard of the forms that had to be filled in and had to have them sent to him.

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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Teagasc——

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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It was a Teagasc adviser rather than an ordinary farmer. Farmers are not getting a sympathetic hearing regarding such issues; they are not being heard at all. They have been told to send in material, but no matter how they try to communicate with the relevant personnel, they do not receive the required answers. The important fact is that they are certainly not getting the money. For young farmers, money is the No. 1 issue and in many cases it is their total profit. I appreciate the Minister of State giving me all that information, but I want to know how and when those young farmers caught in transfer mode will be paid.

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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For 2005, approximately 100 cases remain outstanding, 99.9% of applicants already having received their entitlements. In those 100 cases, we await documentation. It is important to state that every effort is made to process applications as quickly as possible, but when it comes to transfer, they must be accompanied by the appropriate documentation, such as the copy of the deed of transfer or the lease agreement. In over 50% of cases, the required documentation was not furnished with the original application, thus necessitating further contact with the parties involved. In fairness, departmental officials are following people up to assist them in collating the documentation.

The closing date for 2006 was 16 May, but we received applications right up to Christmas. We were very flexible with the date and certain of those of whom the Deputy has spoken may have applied to us quite late as a result. Some 6,000 people applied for transfers in 2006, but 2,300 of them did so after the closing date, many of them in the weeks before Christmas. The application forms are not only available on the website but in our local offices and the Teagasc offices. If there is a Teagasc adviser who does not know that the forms are in its offices, perhaps we should be told about that.

If the Deputy wishes to raise particular cases, we will be delighted to help as we wish to assist such people. From the Department's perspective, it has been a great success story, with 99.9% of people paid for 2005. Despite all I have said to the Deputy regarding 2006, 97% of applicants have received their payments. It has been a great success and if there is an isolated case with which the Deputy would like us to assist, we would appreciate his informing us.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, will be more than happy to facilitate the Deputy with his constituents. He will certainly be in touch.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I heard about it one night on the Adjournment.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. Those who went first to the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, and then came to me are still in trouble. Those are the simple facts.

There are people in grave difficulty and I wrote to the Minister directly before Christmas regarding at least two individuals in dire straits. It is not funny. While it may be gratifying to emphasise that 99.9% of people have been paid, if the Minister of State were among a small number of Deputies not to have received last year's salary, she would not be happy either. I would like to have elicited the figures for 2006. Will the Minister consider making personnel available in such difficult circumstances to deal with matters?

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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There are only 100 cases outstanding.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There are only 100 for 2005, although we do not know how many there are for 2006. If we are sincere about young farmers, we should try to give them all the help we can rather than hindering them.

Mary Wallace (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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In 2006, 1,100 farmers received the 50% advance payment, although their cases are currently being queried, which is why they have not yet received the balance. In some cases, consolidation or stacking may have been involved and we just need the documentation.

If those about whom the Deputy is concerned have their documentation in order, they should furnish it. Some people have been genuinely delayed owing to inheritance issues and questions being dealt with by their solicitors such as family settlements. We must have the documentation, but we are absolutely sincere in saying to the Deputy that our doing so well regarding the payments has been a great success in European terms.

We strongly desire to reach the stage where we have dealt with 100% of payments and will be thrilled to assist farmers. We want to give them the money rather than hold on to it, but at the same time we must have documents such as the copy of the deed of transfer and the lease agreement. I hope the Deputy understands that with 50% of the necessary documentation absent and officials chasing it, we are doing our best and working very hard to ensure that we pay out. If we get the documentation from the farmers, particularly the small group outstanding for 2005, we will deal with their applications immediately.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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I am sure the staff in Raphoe would like to go down and meet them.

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The staff in Raphoe are hard at work, like all my departmental staff.