Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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We have all been supportive of the partnership arrangement for younger and older farmers as a mechanism for encouraging young people to stay on the land and build up their own entitlements, with the expertise that many of them have gleaned through Pallaskenry and other colleges where young farmers go for farming education. The problem, as I understand it, is that although there have been roughly 800 applications for the scheme, apparently only 300 have been processed. If these applications are not processed, it will run into next year, and the young farmers who have not had their applications processed will lose the top-up on their entitlements. It would also affect their green low-carbon agri-environment scheme, GLAS, payments and the higher grants under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, which are essential for young farmers, because availing of the TAMS support and grant system amounts to putting good capital investment into farm holdings.

Those who have not been processed will not access GLAS within the current deadline of 14 December. Furthermore, partnerships that have been created are missing vital information such as commonages from their applications, which means that they cannot enter GLAS and there is no sign they will have their information updated. The loss to the young farmer will be quite substantial.

I hope the delay in processing these partnerships will be dealt with, because it is preventing young farmers from applying for those entitlements. I understand the computer system will not allow GLAS planners to submit applications for unprocessed partnerships. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could give me a positive response to my queries.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to answer his queries about the difficulties he has outlined. I welcome the opportunity to address the Dáil today on the matter of support for farmers and, in particular, possible issues relating to partnerships.

The range of schemes available to farmers, such as the basic payment scheme, BPS, under Pillar 1 and the areas of natural constraints, ANC, scheme and GLAS under the new Rural Development Programme, RDP, 2014-2020, are vital supports for farmers, as the Deputy correctly points out. In rolling out the new BPS and RDP schemes, I have been anxious to ensure that cognisance is taken of the role that partnerships play in addressing a range of economic and social issues in today's agrifood sector.

The main schemes that fall for payment to farmers at this time of the year are the basic payment scheme, the greening payment and the ANC scheme. The basic payment scheme replaces the old single payment scheme and includes for the first time this year a new greening payment. At present, my Department is processing applications from some 122,000 farmers who currently have entitlements under the scheme.

The ANC scheme replaces the old disadvantaged areas and less favoured areas schemes. The ANC scheme seeks to compensate farmers in certain designated areas for the challenges they face due to factors such as remoteness, difficult land type and poor quality. These farmers tend to have lower farm productivity and a higher unit cost of production than farmers in other areas.

Under EU regulations, all applications under the basic payment and ANC schemes must be subject to robust administrative checks prior to payment. The Department's system for processing payments must meet demanding EU and national audit requirements. Only valid applications under the basic payment and ANC schemes that fully comply with the requirements of the EU legislation are paid. Consequently, all applications under the schemes are subject to administrative checks. The main element of these administrative checks is an area assessment. This is achieved by using the detailed database of individual land parcels.

Regarding the basic payment scheme and greening payment, advance payments began issuing on 16 October 2015. This is the earliest that payments can commence for these schemes under the governing EU regulations. The level of the advance payment was set at 70% for 2015 rather than the normal 50%, a concession won by the Minister, Deputy Coveney. This increase was one of the key issues I raised with Commissioner Hogan in our discussions earlier this year. Ireland is among the earliest to pay the BPS in the European Union and, to date, of the approximately 122,000 eligible applicants, 117,380 farmers have received payments totalling €1.025 billion. Given these figures, my Department has been very effective in issuing payments early this year. The figures I have outlined show that over 96% of applicants under BPS and some 83% of applicants under the ANC scheme have received payment. Ireland is among the first member states to make payments.

More than 26,000 farmers were accepted into GLAS under the first tranche, and those whose contracts start from 1 October 2015 will receive a payment before the end of the year. Although there are a small number of partnerships where the entitlement position is not yet finalised, it does not affect a farmer applying to GLAS. Most of these farmers are multiple partnerships where two or more farmers have gone into partnership during or prior to the 2013 scheme year. These farmers submitted one single payment scheme application in 2013 which included all land farmed by all partners in that year.

During the course of the ongoing processing of the basic payment scheme and GLAS applications, we have recently been made aware of a small number of partnerships that have experienced some minor delay in applying for GLAS. This is as a result of a technical issue that occurred at the basic payment scheme application stage and we are in the process of resolving these cases. It is not expected that the issue will result in any ongoing delays or blockages for those partnerships wishing to enter GLAS. They will not hold it up.

On Monday, a separate technical issue regarding the mapping feature in the GLAS online system when processing GLAS applications came to light. It is being addressed as we speak and will be fixed in the next few hours. Technical issues such as this are a feature of any online system and normally can be fixed very quickly. I have received assurance from officials that these issues will be fixed before the day is out.

Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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As the Minister of State said, a small number have been affected. The number I have is 800 applications. I assume they are 2014 applications as distinct from 2013. Taking away 300 leaves 500. This could have changed in the days since I received the information. It is encouraging that it will be resolved and that the technical issue regarding the mapping feature in GLAS will also be resolved today. If it is not resolved by the end of the year but takes some time into next year to resolve it, I hope no penalties or loss of entitlements will be imposed on applicants for this year. It is essential that they have the understanding and certainty that if it is not resolved between now and 31 December but runs over, it will not affect the top-up to which the applicants are entitled.

The other issue with the delay in processing is that it prevents young farmers from applying for GLAS, given that the computer system will not allow GLAS farmers to submit applications for unprocessed partnerships. Unprocessed partnerships that have not been processed cannot be submitted through the computer system. Maybe it is part of the technical hitch. If so, I welcome that it will be examined.

Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Some 95% of payments have been made and departmental officials are working very hard to try to deal with them. Under no circumstances will anybody receive a levy. People will not be put at an disadvantage because of something that is happening in the Department. The technical issues regarding the IT system just cropped up. The Deputy's final point is being addressed as we speak.