merrion street

The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Simon Coveney, TD, today announced that payments under the 2012 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme will start issuing, on schedule, on Wednesday, 26 September 2012. “I am particularly pleased to see that these payments, worth some €154 million, are issuing on target, particularly as this funding will provide a boost to the rural economy and will benefit all areas of the country”, said the Minister.

Minister Coveney confirmed that the initial run of payments, worth €154 million to 74,000 farmers, includes a sizeable number (3,750) being made to farmers who successfully applied for derogation from the revised stocking density requirement, included as part of the range of technical adjustments necessitated by budgetary requirements. “It will be recalled that I gave a firm commitment to have a system in place to consider derogation applications from farmers who could show that their inability to reach the revised stocking level of 0.3 livestock units per forage hectare in 2011 was due to circumstances outside their control. I am pleased to note that the processing of these appeals has not negatively impacted on achieving the payments targets and indeed I note that the level of payments set to issue next week compares very favourably with previous years”, the Minister said.

The Minister confirmed that payments will continue to issue as individual cases are confirmed eligible for payment. “While farmers who have yet to satisfy the average stocking density of 0.15 livestock units per forage hectare for the year have the remaining months of the year to do so, such cases can only be cleared for payment once this requirement has been confirmed”, the Minister explained.

Concluding, the Minister confirmed that progress in processing the derogation applications is proceeding apace, with decisions already made on almost 4,000 cases, with a further 950 applicants having been requested to submit additional documentation. “I am encouraged with the progress being made in dealing with these derogation applications with 3,750 cases paid in this initial run”, the Minister said, adding “I am confident that the Appeals Committee, which Padraig Gibbons has kindly agreed to chair, will be up and running shortly, thereby allowing for the timely, independent, review of my Department’s decisions on these derogation applications, for those who wish to avail of this option”.