Agriculture adhering to €300m cuts called for by Bord Snip

AGRICULTURE Minister Brendan Smith has reported progress on most of the €300m of cuts recommended for his department in the June, 2009 Bord Snip list of €5bn savings that could be made in the public service.

The biggest single Department of Agriculture saving envisaged was €80m, by closing REPS 4. This was implemented in July, 2009, and has led to annual savings of €80m (assuming there would have been 13,000 new applicants annually). These savings are offset by the cost of the new Agri-environment Options Scheme, introduced in March, 2010.

With regard to the Bord Snip recommendation to save €66m of annual expenditure on disadvantaged areas (a 30% cut), the department said expenditure had previously been reduced by 14% (€35m per year) in the October, 2008 budget. An Bord Snip had recommended that €44m be saved by terminating the suckler cow scheme. An annual saving of €32m had been achieved, by reducing the payment rate from €80 to €40 per eligible animal, in the October, 2008 budget.