This article is from page 51 of the 2007-10-30 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 51 JPG
THE Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Mary Cough- lan, has urged all Clare farmers who want to join REPS for the first time in 2008 to have their plans properly prepared before the 2008 closing date for the Single Payment Scheme application.
This is because a change in EU rules means that, from next year, applications for agri-environment payments like REPS must be made before the Single Payment applica- tion deadline.
Farmers starting REPS 4 contracts
this year are not affected by the new requirement. “In practice, the new rules from 2008 mean that if you are a first-time REPS applicant, you must submit a REPS 4 plan before the Sin- gle Payment application deadline if you are to receive your REPS pay- ment in the calendar year,’ Minister Coughlan said.
“If your REPS 4 plan is received after the 2008 Single Payment ap- plication deadline, we can start your REPS contract the following month but we can’t pay you until you have made a payment application in the following year.
“It will only affect you in your first
year in REPS. The first payment will be backdated to the start of your contract and your other payments will go out linked to your REPS an- niversary as they have always done in the past.”
The minister stressed that the great majority of farmers who are already in REPS will be unaffected by the change. The old system can continue to operate for farmers who remain in REPS 3.
Farmers in REPS 3 who intend to switch over to REPS 4 will need to put in a payment application for REPS before the 2008 Single Pay- ment application deadline, but their
first REPS 4 payment will issue in the normal timeframe linked to the commencement date of their new oe) ele relolm
“My officials argued at length against the commission’s proposal to change the rules as they did not best suit Ireland’s all-year REPS ap- plication open period,’ added the PODUNUR Kom
“However, I am determined to Operate the new system in as sim- ple and straightforward a way as possible, and my officials will be meeting the farming organisations shortly to discuss the practicalities for 2008.”