Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 212: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food further to a previous parliamentary question (details supplied), the reason requested information is not readily available in view of the modern technology in use in his Department; the reason staff would need to be unnecessarily diverted to answer this query; and if he will provide a response to the original query. [16875/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The previous question requested the number of issues logged by planners on the eREPS system and, as I indicated in my reply, that information is not readily available.

My officials are in ongoing contact with Teagasc and the Agricultural Consultants' Association (ACA) which represents the majority of private planners, about the interpretation of issues relating to REPS including the use of eREPS.

Outside these direct discussions, issues are raised in various forums, including direct contact by individual planners with my Department's local AES offices. However, there is no central record maintained of such issues. My Department has already provided specific answers to a large number of questions raised by Teagasc and the ACA in direct discussions and further clarifications will continue to issue. To log and analyse all queries centrally would be very time-consuming and would involve analysing data from various sources. It would divert valuable staff resources from the urgent work of expediting REPS 4 payments and would not, in my view, represent the best use of those resources. My Department is not, therefore, in a position to provide a response to the query raised at this time.