Department spend running €128.5m behind target

The Department of Agriculture was running €128.5m behind profile in gross voted expenditure for the first 11 months of 2017, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, has said.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue this week, Creed said that the Department’s expenditure at the end of November was behind profile by €128.5m, of which €87.6m is current and €40.9 is capital.

“Some of this amount arises in budget lines such as pay, research and the sheep welfare scheme where we are now certain the full allocation will not be required this year.

“In other cases some of the expenditure profiled for earlier months, though delayed, may arise before the year end,” he said.

Minister Creed outlined that a profile of projected expenditure on a monthly basis is drawn up at the beginning of each year to anticipate the Department’s funding requirements and facilitate financial management over the course of the year.

Timing

“The timing of expenditure is difficult to forecast and may vary significantly during the year for a variety of reasons, such as the level of payments under demand-led multi-year schemes, a different level of participation in some schemes than anticipated, the pattern of drawdown of grants by State bodies, the levels of disease incidences and payment of compensation, etc.

“Earlier this month I sought and received permission from the Dáil, via the supplementary estimates process, to reallocate funds from some areas where savings were certain to provide funding for existing schemes such as GLAS and ANCs and new initiatives, particularly in relation to Brexit and the World Food Programme.

“Most of this extra expenditure has not yet taken place so it is not reflected in the end of November figures,” Minister Creed said.

Recurring trend

However, speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, McConalogue said that this is a recurring trend.

“Last year was a difficult year for farm incomes and there was an underspend of €86m. It would appear that once again the minister is on course to underspend significantly in 2017.

“Part of this is down to delays in Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and ensuring that the uptake [of schemes] is at the level is should be.

“I believe that there is an opportunity next year to pay the additional funding left over into the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme, allowing €50m into it instead of €25m promised by the Government.”

The other thing that can be done is to reopen the GLAS scheme to new entrants, McConalogue said. This would also be open to farmers who have finished the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS).

“It is crucial that we don’t see a situation where the money is returned to the Exchequer, it should go to the farming community.”

Read more

Target GLAS underspend at sucklers and disadvantaged areas - McConalogue

GLAS underspend continues on

The Department of Agriculture was running €128.5m behind profile in gross voted expenditure for the first 11 months of 2017, the Minister for Agriculture, Michael Creed, has said.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Charlie McConalogue this week, Creed said that the Department’s expenditure at the end of November was behind profile by €128.5m, of which €87.6m is current and €40.9 is capital.

“Some of this amount arises in budget lines such as pay, research and the sheep welfare scheme where we are now certain the full allocation will not be required this year.

“In other cases some of the expenditure profiled for earlier months, though delayed, may arise before the year end,” he said.

Minister Creed outlined that a profile of projected expenditure on a monthly basis is drawn up at the beginning of each year to anticipate the Department’s funding requirements and facilitate financial management over the course of the year.

Timing

“The timing of expenditure is difficult to forecast and may vary significantly during the year for a variety of reasons, such as the level of payments under demand-led multi-year schemes, a different level of participation in some schemes than anticipated, the pattern of drawdown of grants by State bodies, the levels of disease incidences and payment of compensation, etc.

“Earlier this month I sought and received permission from the Dáil, via the supplementary estimates process, to reallocate funds from some areas where savings were certain to provide funding for existing schemes such as GLAS and ANCs and new initiatives, particularly in relation to Brexit and the World Food Programme.

“Most of this extra expenditure has not yet taken place so it is not reflected in the end of November figures,” Minister Creed said.

Recurring trend

However, speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, McConalogue said that this is a recurring trend.

“Last year was a difficult year for farm incomes and there was an underspend of €86m. It would appear that once again the minister is on course to underspend significantly in 2017.

“Part of this is down to delays in Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and ensuring that the uptake [of schemes] is at the level is should be.

“I believe that there is an opportunity next year to pay the additional funding left over into the Areas of Natural Constraint (ANC) scheme, allowing €50m into it instead of €25m promised by the Government.”

The other thing that can be done is to reopen the GLAS scheme to new entrants, McConalogue said. This would also be open to farmers who have finished the Agri-Environment Options Scheme (AEOS).

“It is crucial that we don’t see a situation where the money is returned to the Exchequer, it should go to the farming community.”

Read more

Target GLAS underspend at sucklers and disadvantaged areas - McConalogue

GLAS underspend continues on

//$(window).load(function() { $( document ).ready(function() { all_story = $('.article-body').html(); function hideStory_2(){ //const first_paragraph = $('.article-body').find("p:first").html(); const first_paragraph = ""; const second_paragraph = $('.article-body').find("p:eq(1)").html(); const first_and_second_p = `${first_paragraph}${second_paragraph}`; $('.article-body').html(first_and_second_p); $('.article-body').removeClass('bottom-border'); $('.article-body').removeClass('padding-tb-20'); $('.article-body').addClass('article-body-gradient'); //$('.article-body').removeClass('article-body-gradient'); $('body').removeClass('modal-open'); $('#incognitoModal').removeAttr('data-backdrop'); }; hideStory_2(); //$("#article-body-gshowcase").css("display", "block") const contribly = $('.contribly-contribute-v2').html() console.log("contribly:") console.log(contribly) if (contribly){ //$(".article-body-gradient").append(contribly) //code before the pause setTimeout(function(){ $("#zeroLeftModal").css("display","none") //$(".modal").css("display","none") //var ab = $("#article-body-gshowcase").html() //$(".article-body").html(all_story) $("#article-body-gshowcase").css("display", "block") console.log(all_story) //do what you need here }, 2000); } });