Written answers

Tuesday, 24 September 2013

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Agri-Environment Options Scheme Reopening

Photo of Martin FerrisMartin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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473. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding the opening of the agri-environment options scheme for applicants. [39807/13]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Agri-Environment Options Scheme has had a very positive uptake, which is why I was more than happy to open AEOS 3 in 2012, despite fiscal constraints. I secured funding of €20 million per annum for the Scheme and 6,000 applicants received approvals in May this year. The maximum payment is €4,000 per annum, with a minimum 5 year contract. The Scheme was oversubscribed, with 9,703 applications received, therefore 3,703 could not be accommodated within the budget. 360 of these were invalid applications and 3,343 did not meet the selection criteria. The selection criteria gave priority access to farmers in designated areas and to farmers with smaller holdings who were previously in REPS.

The revised CAP 2014 - 2020 gives priority to agri-environment schemes and requires that the new Rural Development Plan must include an agri-environment scheme. In relation to Pillar 2, preparatory work for the next Rural Development Programme (RDP) 2014 - 2020 is well underway. Under the current draft Rural Development Regulation, my Department must undertake an ex ante evaluation, a public consultation, a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) a needs assessment, a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) and an appropriate assessment (AA) in developing our Rural Development Programme. An independent evaluator has been contracted to prepare the ex-ante evaluation report, SEA and AA and to advise on the SWOT analysis.

An initial consultation process was launched in 2012, and written submissions were received from over 80 stakeholders. These submissions have been analysed by my Department and have fed into the development of the SWOT and needs analyses. A second consultation was held in July, where stakeholders attended a full day workshop on the draft SWOT and needs analyses. Based on the outcome of these processes, the drafting of a new programme is being advanced in my Department, and it is intended that further stakeholder consultation will form part of this. The submission of a new RDP will be interlinked with the submission by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform of an overall Partnership Agreement which will form the framework document for EAFRD funding and the other structural funds.

Participants in AEOS whose contracts overlap with these new schemes will be given the opportunity to adjust their commitments for the remainder of the period of the contract to the legal framework of the next programming period. If such an adjustment is not acceptable to the participant he/she may withdraw from the scheme without any requirement for reimbursement of aid already received. Any extension to the current AEOS 3 scheme to allow access to the 3,343 unsuccessful applicants would have to be considered in the context of the wider budgetary situation. In view of the challenges we continue to face in terms of the public finances, and the requirement to balance competing needs both within the agricultural sector and in the economy as a whole, the government will give these matters careful consideration in the context of the upcoming Estimates process.

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