Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 1: To ask the Minister for Agriculture; Fisheries and Food the efforts he is making to overcome the delays to the processing of single farm payments which has delayed payments to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41011/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I can confirm that my primary objective in relation to processing payments under the single farm payment and disadvantaged areas scheme this year is to ensure that as many payments can be made to as many farmers as quickly as possible subject to the necessary requirements of those two schemes being met. For that reason, I set out a very ambitious payments schedule for commencement of payments under the various direct payments between September and the end of the year as follows: 22 September - 75% advance payment under the disadvantaged areas scheme; 18 October - 50% advance under the single payment scheme; 20 October - 25% balancing payment under the disadvantaged areas scheme; 1 December - 50% balancing payment under the single payment scheme; and 8 December - payment of the new grassland sheep scheme.

Despite the difficult circumstances, my Department has adhered strictly to this schedule and it is my firm intention to do so again for the payment of the single farm balancing payment commencing on 1 December and the grassland sheep scheme payment on 8 December. It was vitally important that certainty be provided regarding the timing of payments, and it was also important to individual farmers and to rural Ireland as a whole to maintain payments at the maximum permitted level over that period.

Despite the record number of altered maps received from farmers this year and the consequent need to revise the area information on the land parcel identification system in order that the requirements of the governing regulations are met, my Department has paid almost €700 million to more than 110,000 farmers under both the single payment and disadvantaged areas schemes in the month since payments commenced.

It is often forgotten that under EU rules, the earliest permissible date for payment under the single payment scheme is 1 December. This year I made a special case to the European Commission, taking account of the past two difficult years endured by the farming community, and secured agreement to make an advance payment of 50% from 18 October. This is the fifth successive year that Ireland had paid an advance of the single farm payment, an achievement which is unprecedented. There is no doubt that Ireland is one of the first member states to release single payment funding and the record of the Department in processing applications since the introduction of the single payment scheme, SPS, in 2005 and making advance payments is equal to the best record of any member state.

The total number of farmers paid under the single payment scheme in the first two weeks alone is 110,438 with an amount totalling €519 million. When account is taken of the additional amounts paid under the disadvantaged areas scheme, payments to date have reached almost €700 million, a significant figure under any circumstances. This underlines the initiatives that I have taken to achieve my objectives of maximising payments. One of the initiatives came from my decision to include the provision of advance payments under the disadvantaged areas scheme as well as the SPS. In a significant change, the Department has been able to pay those farmers whose applications are fully processed and clear on a weekly basis. I also brought forward the date for the balancing payment for the disadvantage area scheme. In addition, it has also been possible to make full or partial payments to those farmers whose only difficulty is non-digitised maps, with payment being made on those parcels of land that are digitised and cleared. This meant that thousands of farmers received payment much earlier than would normally have been the case.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The remainder of the reply will be in the Official Report

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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A Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Two minutes are allocated to replies. I have given the Minister three minutes but I do not think he was even half way through his reply.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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There is very important information that Deputies will appreciate when they read the record. It is valuable information.

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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It is an important subject.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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That can be done by way of a tabular statement appended to the Minister's answer.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We acknowledge the fact that the advance has been given for five years in a row, but that is because farmers have been in such dire straits with regard to their incomes. My question was about the efforts being made to overcome the delays in processing. There are major challenges associated with digitising maps, which is one part of it. There is a letter in the Irish Farmers' Journal today which best summarises the complicated, convoluted cross-compliance criteria between the single farm payment scheme and REPS. There are people whose land is not part of the land that has been digitised on the maps. Unfortunately, the letter states that the authenticated name and address of the sender are with the editor. However, it is pertinent and explains clearly the complicated process in which we are engaged. Did the Minister consider the challenges and problems outlined in this letter? There will be outstanding cases and, no matter what the statistics, there will be unjustified and indefensible delays in some people's payments - which may, apart from anything else, affect their REPS payments.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We do not set the criteria for these schemes, which are European Union-wide. In the space of a few short weeks, more than 110,000 farmers have been issued with payments totalling €700 million.

We knew from the early part of this year there would be additional requirements from Europe with regard to mapping, land parcel identification and so on. In recent years, individual farmers may have sold sites, built new farm buildings and so on, so there are differences in the eligible areas. At the beginning of this year, to set this process in motion and ensure we do not draw penalties upon ourselves, as a Department we sent out more than half a million maps to all single farm payment recipients and asked the farmers to send back amended maps if required. I stress, in case I may be misconstrued, that the overwhelming majority of farmers who had to send amended maps had more than enough eligible land, although there may have been changes such as a new roadway or a site used to build a house for a son or daughter.

More than 70,000 of the applicants returned maps - a total of more than 250,000 - to the Department. Many of the 40,000 people who submitted their single payment scheme application online sent their maps by post. More than 70,000 farmers sent in hard-copy single payment or disadvantaged area scheme applications and, in many instances, the maps were sent separately from the applications. Many maps also came in late. Thus, the collation of the maps had to be done first, followed by the inputting of the data. It was only then, after the initial processing was done, that we knew the extent of the digitisation work that was required.

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It must have been expected that this would be an issue. The Minister mentioned that a large number of people had an adequate amount of land even though there was a discrepancy. These could have been fast-tracked.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We should not use the word "discrepancy"; perhaps "change".

Andrew Doyle (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Yes. Based on what is in the letter I mentioned, although I appreciate that I cannot discuss it directly, it seems there is a conflict between the rules and criteria set out for the single farm payment and those for REPS, which could leave some people high and dry. It is best summarised in the letter, and I ask that the Minister consider this, or a group of people will be left in limbo at the end of the year when everything else has been processed.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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If a person writes to the Department or to me, he or she will get a response, and we will take up any issue. I must point out that there are no discrepancies. The administration of the single farm payment, the disadvantaged area payment, the new upland sheep payment and the REP scheme must be done in accordance with the criteria laid down by the European Union. We are not going to compromise administered schemes and risk the imposition of a penalty.

The date laid down in European law, which must be adhered to unless one has a derogation, is 1 December. Of the annual single farm payment total of under €1.3 billion, more than €500 million has been already paid six weeks in advance of the closing date. I assure the Deputy-----

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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That is poor consolation for farmers who are waiting for money and have commitments they must meet. They have no money.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Deputy Coonan, these are priority questions.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Coonan-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Minister should not allow those whose names are not appended to a priority question to ask questions.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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That type of misrepresentation does us no justice. The Department brought in-----

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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It is not misrepresentation.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Doyle is well capable of asking the questions, and I will answer them. Deputy Doyle said that this could have been expected. In anticipation of the extra workload, we had arranged for extra resources from a personnel point of view and from the company that does mapping work on contract for the Department.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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We must make progress.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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We should recognise, as should every public representative in the House, that 90% of farmers have received a payment under these schemes. That is an important message that Deputies should be promulgating-----

Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Ten percent are going out of business.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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-----instead of trying to undermine a successful scheme.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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We are well over time on this question.

Tom Sheahan (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Do you have a roadmap, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle?