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The Department of Agriculture failed to spend over €100m on behalf of farmers in its budget last year. It handed the money back to the Exchequer at the end of the year instead.
This was while thousands of farmers were waiting to be allowed enter GLAS and TAMS, milk prices were on the floor, tillage farmers were facing a weather crisis and the suckler herd was shrinking, with the average farm income dropping by 9%.
The scale of the underspend is revealed in a report from the Comptroller and Auditor General showing that the Department of Agriculture surrendered the largest amount of all Government departments to the Exchequer.
The largest underspend was on GLAS, at €40m, followed by TAMS at €30m. The Department blamed the GLAS underspend on claim and compliance rates as well as processing delays.
The TAMS underspend was because of “the low level of payment claims received” as poor milk prices delayed investments on many farms, a Department spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal. Forestry schemes came €10m under budget as farmers reduced planting and claims.
The Department spent €5.4m less on animal health because of lower TB.
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed committed to spending the full €3.9bn allocated under the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme: “We have a fixed budget to spend in that five-year period. We will spend every penny of it and we will draw down every penny available.”
Listen to Minister Creed in our podcast below:
Retun to farmers
However, Fianna Fáil agriculture spokesperson Charlie McConalogue said the deficit in spending was shocking given the cashflow crisis facing farmers along with market volatility and the threat of Brexit. Only 30% of the RDP’s funds have been spent halfway through the programme, he said.
“All unspent money must stay with farmers.”
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