Written answers
Tuesday, 29 September 2015
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Rural Development Programme Funding
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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324. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide a breakdown, in tabular form, the total allocated spend on all schemes under the 2014 to 2020 rural development programme; if he will indicate how much of the spend has been outlaid so far from the programme on all schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32954/15]
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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325. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the spend on the agri-environment options scheme and the rural environment protection scheme for the years 2014 to 2018 is coming from the 2007 to 2013 rural development programme (RDP) or from the current 2014 to 2020 RDP; if it is the current RDP, what is the financial spend; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32955/15]
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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326. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the estimated payments still to be made under the rural environment protection scheme and the agri-environment options scheme, until their conclusion; whether this will come out of the 2014 to 2020 rural development programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32956/15]
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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327. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if any green low-carbon agri-environment scheme payments made after 2020 will come from the current rural development programme's (RDP) funding allocation or from the post-2020 RDP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32957/15]
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 324 to 327, inclusive, together.
The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) is the Managing Authority for Ireland’s RDP. The Programme is co-funded by the EU’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the national exchequer. EU support for the RDP via the EAFRD will average €313 million annually, or an aggregate sum of €2.19 billion over the 7-year Programme lifespan. This EU funding will be supplemented by exchequer funding. The allocation of funding will be phased over the Programme period in line with the requirements of measure design.
EAFRD and national funding over the RDP
The RDP is structured on the regulatory framework set out in Regulation (EU) No. 1305/2013 and other supporting legislation. This framework is based on the concept of measures, rather than individual schemes and the financial plan for the RDP is of necessity also based on this measure structure. The overall allocations between measures are set out in the table below.
EAFRD and national funding over the RDP lifetime
| Measure | € millions |
|---|---|
| Measure 1 - Knowledge transfer and information actions Of which - €100m Knowledge Transfer Groups - €14m for training to be delivered as part of BDGP - €12m for training to be delivered as part of GLAS | 126 |
| Measure 2 - Advisory services, farm management and farm relief services Of which - €2m for CPD for advisors - €6m for animal health advisory services | 8 |
| Measure 4 - Investments in physical assets - Of which €395m is in respect of TAMSII, with the remainder for TAMSI transitional funding | 425 |
| Measure 7 - Basic services and village renewal in rural areas - This is in effect part of GLAS | 6 |
| Measure 10 - Agri-environment-climate - See below in relation to detail on Measure 10 breakdown, including transitional expenditure | 1,585 |
| Measure 11 - Organic farming | 56 |
| Measure 13 - Payments to areas facing natural/other specific constraints | 1,370 |
| Measure 16 - Co-operation - Of which €3m for support for collaborative farming - €4m for European Innovation Partnerships | 7 |
| Measure 19 - Support for LEADER local development | 250 |
In certain instances, the measure structure is the same as our national scheme structure. For example, Measure 13 relates to the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme and in both instances the financial allocation over the lifetime of the RDP is the same – i.e. €1,370m. This is also the situation with regard to Measure 11 - Organic Farming, €56m.
However, in other cases the Measure and Scheme structure do not correspond directly. For example, Measure 10 includes expenditure on our two Measure 10 schemes GLAS and BDGP. However, there is also BDGP and GLAS expenditure in Measure 1 for the training elements to be delivered as part of these schemes at the national level.
Measure 10 includes €280m for BDGP which is then complemented by the allocation for BDGP training which is contained in Measure 1. The total expenditure envisaged for GLAS (Measure 10) over the lifetime of the scheme is €1.4bn.This includes an allocation of some €390m in transitional funding for remaining commitments arising from the Agri-Environment Measures in the 2007-2013 RDP, much of which may transfer directly to GLAS expenditure as these farmers ‘transform’ their existing contracts into new GLAS contracts. In order to ensure that the planned level of commitments under Measure 10 is achieved, the expenditure includes the arrangement that commitments which extend beyond the 2014-2020 period (for example GLAS contracts which commence in 2017 or later) can be funded from the transitional arrangements which will be in place for that programming period. This is a standard feature of RDP financing.
As Measures have been rolled out over the last few months, the only outlay to date has been in respect of transitional commitments and the recent announcement in relation to the first tranche of ANC payments.
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