Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue has been called on to intervene to avoid a clawback under the Beef Exceptional Aid Measure (BEAM) which could potentially amount up to €8 million.
Making the call, Sinn Féin agriculture spokesperson Matt Carthy pointed out that this clawback could affect 3,634 farmers who missed out on the 5% reduction of bovine livestock manure nitrogen under the scheme.
The spokesperson claimed that the scheme was “beset with confusion and delays from the offset as to how the 5% would be calculated, resulting in farmers being offered an updated reference period last February, effectively facilitating an extension in meeting the 5% target”.
Commenting further, deputy Carthy claimed that the issues were “apparent from the very beginning” with the scheme, adding:
“In February of this year, we warned the Minister that while flexibility with regard to the reference period was welcome, in many respects he would only be kicking the can down the road.
“It has now been reported that 3,634 farmers who did not avail of the deferral did not reach the required 5% reduction,” he said, adding that this would amount to a clawback of €8 million on a pro-rata basis.
“It is worth recalling that at the time the extension was secured reports suggested that the crux of the issue was that Teagasc and other agricultural advisors differed from the Department of Agriculture as to how to calculate nitrate figures.
“Given the confusion surrounding the scheme, I believe it would be unfair and callous to place the blame and burden for this debacle laden scheme solely on those individual farmers alone.
“Given that many other farmers who entered the scheme on the same basis will now be continuing to work towards meeting the reduction over an extended period, I am calling on the minister to find an alternative solution to simply penalising these farmers.”
Continuing, the TD said:
“The fairest solution would seem to be to implement a blanket extension across the board for those farmers who have not yet met the scheme’s requirements.
Querying whether Minister McConalogue asked the European Commission about such an extension in the weeks leading up to the deadline, deputy Carthy concluded by stating:
“At a time when we have not yet emerged from the pandemic, and with new Brexit challenges on the horizon, the idea of removing such a significant sum of money from family farmers and rural communities would be unfair and frankly inexcusable.”