EU turns spotlight on the value for money offered by rural schemes

THE European Court of Auditors and the European Commission are putting increased emphasis on measuring what the Rural Environment Protection Scheme (REPS) and other agri-environmental measures are delivering in terms of value for money.

Agriculture Minister Brendan Smith told the Teagasc REPS conference in Tullamore, Co Offaly, yesterday that this was hardly surprising, when one considered the huge amounts of money being put into these schemes.

Mr Smith said since REPS began in 1994, Irish and European taxpayers between them have paid more than €2 billion to farmers.

“I myself have no doubt that REPS has delivered much to the community as a whole, in terms of water quality, biodiversity and landscape. But we have to be able to demonstrate the outcomes in real, concrete terms,” he said.

Mr Smith said this year REPS has been the subject of searching audits by both the Court of Auditors and the Commission.

“We are still finalising our responses to their comments, but Europe’s emphasis on tighter and more robust verification of outcomes is coming across strongly. We have to deliver on this,” he said.

Michael O’Donovan, principal officer with the Department of Agriculture, said he was concerned about the outcome of an audit by the Court of Auditors and the Commission into the operation of REPS on Irish farms.

He said the court had been critical of agri-environmental measures generally in its 2006 report.

It questioned the value for money and how to quantify the outcomes from the scheme. Ireland was replying to a follow-up audit from February last.