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European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan is coming under increasing pressure to suspend the collection of the balance of the superlevy.
In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Jackie Cahill, Minister Creed said he had raised the issue with Commissioner Hogan in a recent bilateral meeting and at last week’s Council of Ministers meeting.
Following a request from Ireland, the European Commission introduced a facility to phase the final superlevy payment over three years.
Farmers availing of such a facility must pay at least one third of the bill in 2015 and 2016, with the remaining balance to be paid in 2017.
Over 6,000 farmers incurred the levy and 3,741 of those deferred repayments of €35.6m in superlevy liability, out of a total national levy liability of €71.2m.
Alternative arrangements
To ease the financial burden for liable farmers this year, a further deferral of payments for the next two years was proposed by Ireland.
However, as the legal basis for the regulations under-pinning the scheme is no longer in existence, the European Commission said that further amendments were not possible.
Minister Creed said while a possible alternative approach was suggested, “it was clear that the proposal enjoyed very little support from other member states and was therefore unlikely to succeed”.
In a separate parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Kevin O’Keeffe, Minister Creed revealed that the Department is considering including a provision for financial instruments in its Rural Development Programme.
“The Department is at present commissioning an ex ante appraisal to examine the merits of including a provision for financial instruments in its Rural Development Programme.”
A further package of measures was agreed in March at the meeting of agriculture ministers in response to the difficulties in the dairy, pigmeat and fruit and vegetables sectors.
“It will now be possible for farmers to access temporary finance up to a maximum amount of €15,000 per farm year” and the ongoing appraisal relates to this option, Minister Creed said.
SHARING OPTIONS: