This article is from page 38 of the 2007-10-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 38 JPG
TODAY is an early pay day for Clare farmers. Clare Fine Gael TD Pat Breen received confirmation from the Minister for Agriculture, Fisher- ies and Food Mary Coughlan, that half of the advance single farm pay- ment will be paid out to Clare Farm- ers today, October 16.
While welcoming the confirmation Deputy Breen urged the minister to ensure that adequate resources are put in place in the SPS unit of the de- partment to deal with any outstand- ing farmers administrative queries 1n
the days preceding this payout.
Deputy Breen said “I welcome this acknowledgement by the minister of the serious problems experienced by Clare Farmers due to the bad weather. The Department has set up a Lo-Call Telephone Number 1890 252 235 in the SPS Unit to assist Clare Farmers with any outstanding queries.
“It is important that the depart- ment allocates sufficient staff in the SPS unit to deal with these queries; the farming community in County Clare should not experience any un- necessary delays because of the de- partment’s failure to assign adequate
resources,” said Deputy Breen.
During parlimentary questions the Fine Gael deputy asked the minis- ter if she would make 80 per cent of the advance single farm payment in October 2007, due to the increased costs incurred by farmers as a result of the bad weather.
Minister Coughlin said she ap- proached Commissioner Fischer Boel earlier this year, seeking her agreement to have payments made with effect from October 16 rather than December I, as is provided for in the relevant EU regulations.
“While the Commissioner indi-
cated that she could not agree to this request at this time, she did make it clear in her written response that she agreed with the need to work for greater simplification, proposing that the matter be further pursued in the broader context of the CAP Health Check, scheduled to commence later this year. “The commitment by the Commissioner to pursue this matter is important to Ireland, as we will be seeking, as part of the Health Check negotiations, a change in the Regula- tions to provide for a Single Payment Scheme payment commencement date of October 16,” she said.