This article is from page 69 of the 2008-07-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
HUNDREDS of Clare farmers are facing a race against time to have works undertaken under the Farm Waste Management Scheme com- pleted by the end of year deadline.
According to a new survey released by the Irish Farmers Association last week more than one in every three farmers will miss the December deadline.
This would amount to more than 10,000 farmers countrywide and hundreds in Clare.
“The end of year deadline is un- realistic given the magnitude of the
investment that is required on Irish farms to meet the requirements of the Nitrates directive,’ said IFA President Padraig Walshe.
“IT am calling on the Government to put in place flexible arrangements to allow any farmer who has started work to be eligible for the 60 per cent grant when work is completed.”
It 1s estimated that around 33,000 farmers are either in the process of doing work or intend to start the work soon. However, for a number of different reasons, up to 10,000 farm- ers will not have completed work by the end of the year.
The main reason identified in the
IFA survey for the expected non- completion of work is a lack of availability of builders, difficulty in raising finance, the timescale for completion of work being too tight and shortage of building materials.
“Securing flexible arrangements for farmers who will be endeav- ouring to complete work under the FWM is a priority issue for IFA in the partnership talks, which have already commenced,” continued the IFA President.
The IFA survey of over 300 farm- ers who have applied for the Farm Waste Management and the Farm Improvement Scheme was conduct-
ed through a telephone survey from the 12 IFA regional offices as well as farmers who were surveyed at the IFA stand at last week’s Farm Fest Teagasc open day in Athenry.
“The survey clearly highlights the need for such a scheme with up to 97 per cent of farmers who have got approval expected to complete work under the scheme,” said IFA Rural Development Chairman Tom Turley.
“In addition, farmers who applied between the 22nd and the 31st Oc- tober 2007 closure date, up to 98 per cent would start work if they got the Department of Agriculture ap- proval.”