I.C.S.A. MAKE FURTHER REPRESENTATIONS ON REPS 4 PAYMENTS

ICSA has made further representations to the Department of Agriculture on the issue of REPS 4 payments. According to ICSA president Malcolm Thompson, it is absolutely essential that farmers switching over from REPS 3 to REPS 4 do not have to endure any delay on their annual payment date.

“We cannot entertain the possibility that farmers would, in effect, miss out on a year’s payment or even experience a delay of a few months. He explained that the basic principle of farmers getting a REPS cheque every 12 months is sacrosanct.

"I fail to understand why the EU Commission seems so set against up-front payments. ICSA has continuously argued for REPS 4 to be operated on the same basis as REPS 3. At least some sense was brought to bear on the issue of REPS 2 and 3 payments. But the EU must realise that the transition from REPS 3 to REPS 4 must be smooth and uninterrupted. ICSA rural development chairman Gabriel Gilmartin again warned that the whole REPS scheme was in jeopardy unless a fair resolution can be found.

“Farmers who wish to switch into REPS 4 to avail of higher rates cannot contemplate moving until there is clarity about when they will get paid. Missing out on a year’s payment is unacceptable and many farmers will simply see out their REPS 3 commitments and then give up unless there is fair play on REPS 4 payments,” he concluded.

MINISTER COUGHLAN ANNOUNCES THE ISSUE

The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Coughlan T.D., announced that over 141,000 Annual Payment Statements for the year 2007 will issue to farmers around the country over the next few days.

The Minister said that the Statement gives details to each farmer of all payments made to him/her by the Department during the period 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2007. The total value of the payments recorded on the Statements is €2.213 billion and represents a massive contribution to farm incomes and to investment in the sector.

The main elements of expenditure were the Single Payments Scheme €1,298 million, REPS €311 million, Income Supports in Disadvantaged Area €254 million, on-farm investment grants, including the Farm Waste Management Scheme €114 million, Afforestation €83 million and payments under the Early Retirement Scheme of €53 million.

The Minister added that the Payment Statement has proven in previous years to be a very useful document and she asked that farmers retain it carefully for future reference.

TURLEY CALLS FOR APPROVAL OF ALL F.I.S. APPLICANTS

IFA Rural Development Chairman Mr. Tom Turley has called on the Minister for Agriculture Mary Coughlan to issue approvals to all 12,700 farmers who had applied for the Farm Improvement Scheme prior to its closure. Also the re-opening of the scheme must be a priority given the level investment required on Irish farms to meet competitive challenges ahead.

Mr. Turley said that while the 7,200 applicants up to the 21st October 2007 are being approved nevertheless a further 5,500 farmers who applied between the 21st and the 31st October 2007 require immediate approval to proceed with necessary investment work. In many cases farmers are matching up Farm Waste Management work with the FIS so as to maximise the investment opportunity available.

In some cases it is not possible to proceed with the FWM without the FIS being approved and this leading to hardship on some farms. IFA understands that in some counties, approvals for FIS are now up to the 21st October applications date.

There is now no reason why approvals should not commence for the remaining farmers who urgently need to proceed with work.

STANDARD COSTS

Meanwhile Mr. Turley called on the Minister for Agriculture to increase standard costs for farm investment grant aided work where approvals have been issued since the 1st January 2008. Under the Charter of Rights a commitment was made that standards costs would increase each year.

IFA estimate that costings need to go up by 5.3% in line with the most recent CSO Wholesale Price Index.