Results 8,461-8,480 of 18,593 for speaker:Michael Creed

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: If we want to spend the €52 million, it would have to be later this year - as soon as possible. As I have said previously in the Dáil Chamber, we are working through a full overview of our rural development programme commitments through the lifetime of the programme to see what scope, if any, is there. I can confirm without having full sight of all the details that the scope is...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The Deputy is fabricating a figure of 35,000.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: In many respects, GLAS accurately paints the picture of the rolling programme of payments that happen under the rural development programme. The Deputy is aware that we are paying out in the calendar year of 2017 what would have been considered 2016 liabilities in some respects. Therefore, we are paying out some of 2016's liabilities from the envelope of money provided for in 2017 and we...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: It is all about choices. When we opened the scheme, we took in every applicant, some 13,000 extra. We could have taken in half of them or less and paid everybody the full amount, instead of taking in everybody and managing the payments in order that they would all be paid. In the calendar year 2017 farmers will receive some of their 2016 payment and some of their 2017 payment. The numbers...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The choice we made around the time of the closing date for GLAS III was that we would take in everybody. It was after the budget and included in the Estimates for 2017. Given the environmental gain from the schemes and the financial benefit to individual farmers, the best thing to do was to leave in all applicants and manage the payments in order that they would all be paid. However, not...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I think farmers are well aware of it.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: We have this circuitous debate all the time. We are still paying REPS and AEOS applicants. The applications did not fit comfortably into a five-year programme but spilled over. We took in GLAS applicants for 2017, with a closing date of last December, and they will receive payments for five years. The alternative suggested by the Deputy is that they will receive payments for three years...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The arrangement for a 75%:25% split in payments is provided for in legislation that has been in place for a long time. We could have decided not to open GLAS III and to pay everybody or open it for far fewer, but our ambition was to get as many members into the scheme as possible and pay the full five years' payment to all who complied with the terms of the scheme. That is what we will do.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Farmers will be aware of when payments are being made because the Department always communicates this information. The payments have always been made in two tranches and thejschemes have never run on a calendar year basis, as suggested by the Deputy. There will be farmers who will receive both a 2016 and a 2017 payment this year because that is in the nature of these schemes.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Is the Deputy saying I made a mistake?

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: There are sufficient funds to pay them a five years' payment.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The Deputy is clutching at straws.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: I can give the full financial drawdown.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: A total of 650 have been paid.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: The total number of applications was-----

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: There has been an issue under TAMS with people who have received approval but not proceeded to do the work.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: There have been nearly 900 claims and a total of 650 have been paid.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Yes. Management of the Department's finances has changed. This affects the calculation of any underspend or overspend. There will be a time-limited approval rate in the future and differences between the number of approvals in respect of plant and machinery and that in respect of buildings, including for nutrient management.

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Our problem was that, up until recently, there was no timeline on their obligation. We have changed that now and hope that it will facilitate the process. It will also enable us to manage the Department funding. We put up a certain amount for 2017 and we cannot be certain that it is going to be drawn down. Certainly, if the works are done, the money is there to pay it and we will pay it...

Select Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 30 - Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Revised) (21 Mar 2017)

Michael Creed: Yes, most of them. The ones in the most recent tranches have had a limitation on the timelines. I am subject to correction but my recollection is that for plant, if one is buying a low-emission slurry spreader or whatever, the revised arrangement is six months. It is one year for fixed assets, such as buildings. We have 860 claims in, in respect of which 650 payments have been made. Over...