Written answers

Tuesday, 9 May 2023

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Public Services Provision

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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517. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the steps he is taking to ensure that there is no digital exclusion in the delivery of public services by his Department; if he can confirm that all grant schemes and payment schemes under the auspices of his Department are accessible not just to online applicants, but can also be accessed and processed by people who are digitally excluded; if he will list all schemes that are only available to online applicants; how this sits with the Citizen Information Board report on digital exclusion and eGovernment in Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21616/23]

Photo of Charlie McConalogueCharlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The online administration of schemes by my Department has a range of benefits especially for applicants by allowing for more efficient processing of scheme applications and payments. It is undertaken as part of wider Government policy for provision of digital services to citizens.

Whilst the vast majority of EU and Exchequer based schemes administered by the Department are subject to online application, more often on a statutory basis, the Department does take steps to ensure that for those for whom this avenue of application represents a challenge, options are certainly available.

DAFM facilitate annual outreach events around the country where applicants can enrol and have their application completed and queries responded to. For example, in 2022 over 800 farmers were assisted at the Basic Payment Scheme clinics and at the Public Office in Portlaoise to submit their application. My Department made hundreds of calls to farmers in the run up to the deadline, for example if a draft application had not been submitted online.

Furthermore over 15,000 calls were answered by the Direct Payments Helpdesk during the application window. An extensive campaign is also currently ongoing for the new Suckler Carbon Efficiency Programme and the Basis Income Support for Sustainability Scheme, with over 30 clinics ongoing around the country.

The Department stand at the National Ploughing Champions is a working office and last year in the region of 15,000 farmers engaged with farm scheme administrators around queries across a wide range of schemes.

In many instances farmers also choose to make use of Teagasc or independent Agricultural Consultancy services in completing their applications. It is also open to farmers to contact and engage or directly call into Department Offices in seeking assistance with scheme application issues.

For the seafood sector, applications for grant schemes as implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), are solely carried out on its online Grants Electronic Management System (GEMS). Assistance with online applications and more general scheme queries is provided as required by BIMs network of area and regional officers.

Initiatives are being developed by BIM to provide digital literacy supports to the seafood sector and provision exists within the Department’s European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) Seafood Development Programme 2021-2027 to fund such initiatives.

I am satisfied that the efficiencies garnered from a predominantly online application environment for farmers with respect to DAFM administered schemes is not in any sense at the expense or to the exclusion of any applicant or applicants for whom this modus operandi may continue to represent a challenge.

A full list of DAFM Schemes, information on their terms and conditions and their modus operandi with respect to applications processes is available via the following link on the Gov.ie website: www.gov.ie/en/collection/73aea-schemes-and-services-agriculture-food-and-the-marine/.

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