Farm building dispute over

By Des Maguire

The six-week-old dispute in the Department of Agriculture which has hit on-farm inspections under the Farm Waste Management and Dairy Hygiene Schemes has been resolved.

On-farm inspections under both schemes are likely to resume from next week.

The dispute was caused by a reaction from farm building inspectors attached to IMPACT over guidelines on who should audit farmer applicants on their stated income units.

The rules of the new schemes require that five per cent of applicants are audited on the level of income units they declared. This determines their eligibility for the scheme.

The Department wanted the audits to be carried out by regional inspectors but agricultural officers maintained that it was part of their brief. As part of the resolution of the dispute the guidelines are to be revised to allow agricultural officers to carry out the audits.

The dispute has delayed the building of silage pits, effluent tanks and the installation of bigger tanks for dairy farmers who acquired additional quota.

Other farmers were waiting to have work carried out inspected so that they could receive their grant aid.

Welcoming the ending of the dispute, Michael Bergin, chairman of the IFA's rural development committee said the dispute had serious consequences for farmers who had applied for on-farm investment aid when the new schemes were introduced earlier this year.