Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail)
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This matter relates to delayed payments to farmers at this time of year. This issue also arose in previous years. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine has issued a charter and established a target of paying all farmers by late September of most years.

Farmers face a particular difficulty this year because of the increased cost of raw materials, such as fertiliser and feed. The cost of re-stocking has increased because cattle and sheep prices are high, land prices have risen and even the cost of removing dead animals has increased. These costs generally accumulate at the back end of the year in September, October and November.

Unfortunately, a large proportion of farmers did not receive their payments this year. The delays in paying the single farm payment and disadvantaged area payment relate to mapping irregularities within the Department, where maps provided by farmers did not correspond to the aerial photographs taken by the Department. The disadvantaged area payments were also delayed because of the issue of the stocking densities.

While I accept that cross-checks must be done and compliances met, I believe the system that was in place a number of years ago was fairer. At that time, the farmer was paid for the actual land within the compliance of the map and if, for example, 5% of the land was not in compliance that percentage of the payment was retained until the matter was resolved. Delaying a payment for a month or two puts a farmer under huge financial pressure.

A possible solution might be to pay farmers who have no compliance issue at the end of September and that all other farmers, even where there is a discrepancy in their maps or photographs, would receive at least 75% of the payment owed to them. This system should be adopted. I appreciate that the officials in the Minister of State's Department are under pressure, especially at the back-end time of year when payments are due. However, if that system were adopted it might ease some of the pressure on farmers who are struggling at this time of year. I understand many of the payments have issued since.

Let us consider the disadvantaged areas scheme. I understand more than 100,000 applications were made and, of these, approximately 78,000 were paid out by the middle of October, but some 23,000 were delayed and this has caused a financial burden on farmers. We are entering a time of year when farm organisations and farmers will be in talks with the Minister of State. They were at the Joint Committee on Communications, Natural Resources and Agriculture today to discuss several important schemes and to outline the importance of farming, the Department's objectives and the Government's objectives under the Food Harvest 2020 Milestones for Success report, as part of which we are trying to increase our exports of dairy and beef product by 42% by 2020 over and above the average from 2007 to 2009. We all support and fully subscribe to these objectives. However, these targets cannot be obtained if we do not support agriculture in the forthcoming budget.

There will be unilateral discussions between Departments at Cabinet level and at Minister of State level in terms of which schemes are retained and which are to be considered for reduction. However, if a stimulus is to be provided to the economy in any shape or form, it must be delivered through agriculture. Let us consider agriculture and the Irish food industry. They provide approximately 15% of the total employment in the State which amounts to almost 300,000 jobs. Irish farmers spend almost €8 billion per year on agriculture inputs and living expenses. The majority of this is expended locally. When a farmer gets a cheque in the post, he spends it on upgrading his yard or on new stock. He reinvests the money so that the money is being reinvested in the economy. Figures from a recent UCD report commissioned by the IFA show that every €100 of agricultural output creates and additional €73 for the economy. Effectively, every €100 spent creates €173 of expenditure in the local economy. This should be borne in mind although it was not outlined in my question, which was more to do with getting the payments issued. I hope the Minister of State will be able to outline the level of payments made, when farmers who have not yet received their payments can expect to get them and whether, in the case of farmers who may not have received their payments but who may have small discrepancies, at least some of the payments could be front-loaded.

Shane McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Ó Domhnaill for raising this issue. I am here to reply on behalf of the Minister. On a personal note, I was up in the Senator's beloved Donegal on this day last week and I was shocked at the amount of potatoes that had to be dug. On my way home I saw a combine machine in a field. I saw such a situation in 1985 but I thought I would never see it again. I realise the corn is probably lost but I hope the potatoes will not be lost. I was there with Deputy McHugh and I recognise the hardships of those involved. I will take on board everything Senator Ó Domhnaill had said and I hope to provide an up-to-date position.

There are no delays in payments to farmers under either the single farm payment, SFP, scheme or the disadvantaged areas scheme, DAS. In the case of the SFP, the earliest payment date under the governing European Union rules is 1 December, while in respect of DAS there is no regulatory payment date. However, it is generally recognised and acknowledged in the farmers' charter that a payment target of late September in the year in question is the most realistic.

In the case of the single farm payment it should be remembered that while the earliest payment date provided for under EU rules is 1 December, I am particularly conscious of the significance to the wider rural economy of the single payment. Earlier this year I successfully sought the approval of the Commissioner to have advance payments made as and from 17 October. This is the earliest possible legal date for making payments since it is the start of the new EU financial year. The issuing of these advance payments commenced on target and, to date, payments worth in excess of €537 million have issued to 108,000 farmers. Payments continue to issue, on a twice-weekly basis. Furthermore, arrangements are well advanced to allow the balancing payment to start issuing as and from 1 December. All in all, I am satisfied that expenditure under the 2011 SFP will reach €1.2 billion by 31 December. This will represent a strong performance by the Department in this area and it compares well with that of other Member States.

With regard to the disadvantaged areas scheme, Senators will be aware that payments commenced on target on 22 September and payments issued to those farmers whose applications had been confirmed as eligible for payment at that time. I confirm that my Department has continued to pay individuals in the interim as their cases have become clear, with payment runs taking place twice each week. This is normal practice and will continue on an ongoing basis as necessary. While I am pleased to note that payments worth in excess of €195 million have issued to date, representing of 89% of applicants, I remain confident that the full budget for the scheme will be exhausted by the end of the year.

Suggestions have been made that the necessity to re-digitise farmers' maps is leading to unnecessary and inordinate delays, resulting in payments being made later than would otherwise be the case. While I assure the House and the wider farming community that I am committed to allocating such resources as are necessary to ensure the essential digitisation of applicants' maps onto the Department's land parcel identification system, LPIS, I emphasise that any failings or shortcomings in the LPIS would leave the Department open to the risk of significant fines or disallowances from the European Union. I am not prepared to take such a risk nor will I compromise the value of direct payments to Irish farmers. Furthermore, sight should not be lost of the fact that the changes recorded on the LPIS in significant numbers throughout last year and again this year are necessary given the need to have all ineligible areas mapped. Simply put, the position of any given farm must be reflected accurately on the LPIS. To this end, therefore, these changes are long since overdue in the majority of cases.

As ever, the generally excellent working relationship between my Department and the farming community greatly assists in the processing of these schemes. Where in-house checks reveal anomalies in applicants' applications, the necessary correspondence issues immediately. By replying to all such correspondence as quickly as possible, farmers ensure the rapid resolution of issues, thereby allowing their payments to be made. However, in the specific case of DAS payments issues arise each year in respect of the required minimum stocking density of applicants' holdings and usually this affects in the region of 10,000 farmers. These are cases in which my Department cannot confirm adherence to this requirement through the established computer-based animal systems and, therefore, the individuals concerned are required to submit the necessary hard-copy evidence. Obviously, farmers can only do so when they are satisfied that they have met this requirement for the requisite period of three consecutive months. Therefore, there are DAS applicants who are not yet paid, not having yet satisfied this requirement, who will ultimately be paid.

I fully appreciate the value and importance of these schemes to Irish farmers and I remain committed to ensuring that the maximum numbers will be paid at the earliest possible date. Naturally, I am mindful of the over-riding necessity to ensure compliance with the governing EU requirements. Ireland continues to be among the first of the countries throughout the EU to be in a position to make such payments and we should not lose sight of this fact.

Substantial payments are also taking place under the rural environment protection scheme, REPS, and the agri-environment options scheme, AEOS. Under REPS 4, of the 30,359 participants more than 29,000 have been paid in full in respect of 2010 and are up to date with payments. Approximately 1,000 cases in which penalties were incurred have yet to receive the 25% second instalment payment in respect of 2010 and these payments will issue in the coming weeks. Queries in approximately 500 other cases are being resolved on an ongoing basis in consultation with the farmers concerned. Arrangements are well advanced to issue payments in respect of 2011 and these payments are expected to commence later this month or in early December once all the necessary checks have been completed. In the event of any queries arising from these checks, my Department will be in direct contact with the person named.

In the case of AEOS 1, a total of 8,773 applicants were admitted in 2010.

The scheme is more complex and difficult to administer than REPS and it took some time to put effective processing systems in place. Following the completion of the necessary administration checks and withdrawals by approved applicants, the valid number of applications was reduced to 8,445.

To date a total of 4,605 applications have been fully processed. Some 75% of the 2010 entitlement under AEOS I, amounting to €3,095,086.88, has now issued and I expect payments in respect of the remaining 25% will commence shortly. All outstanding cases are being processed and applicants have been informed where outstanding queries have arisen.

Payment in respect of year 2 will commence in early December. About 6,000 participants in the scheme have committed to undertake capital investments as part of their agri-environment options. The majority of participants recently submitted their capital investment receipts and officials in my Department are currently processing these claims which are required as evidence of completion of the work before payment can take place. Where farmers have not yet submitted these claim forms they should do so immediately.