Coveney urged to take action on farm schemes
Such is the view of the Irish Farmers Association, whose president Eddie Downey, who said it was vitally important outstanding schemes are now implemented.
“It is now up to Mr Coveney to ensure that farmers have access to all schemes under the RDP,” he said. IFA Rural Development Committee chairman Flor McCarthy said clarification on land eligibility must be immediately sorted out as there is a lot of uncertainty among farmers who want to avail of both Pillar I and Pillar II schemes in 2015.
“The lack of clarity on this issue has led to disallowances in the past,” he said. “No farmer should have a fine imposed restrospectively, and individual farmers and the country cannot be exposed in the future.”
IFA Hill Committee chairman Pat Dunne said one of the issues which has to be addressed is securing a payment for private non-designated mountain land which the current Glas scheme excludes.
Also, the Glas+ €2,000 top-up should be available to more farmers and the targeted output scheme should play an important role for farmers who have a lot of designated land. Mr Dunne said the flexibilities in place for commonage farmers should ensure more farmers in these areas will qualify for the maximum payment of €5,000.
The payment for commonage areas will be paid on the gross area, which will be important for increasing the payment at farm level, he said.
