Nearly 1,000 Galway farmers accepted into AEOS 3 plan

BY FRANCIS FARRAGHER

CLOSE on 1,000 Galway farmers are estimated to have ‘got in’ to the AEOS 3 scheme, announced by Agriculture Minister, Simon Coveney last week – however a similar number from the county are thought to have been excluded from the package.

In total across the country, there were 6,000 successful applicants for AEOS 3 but a further 3,500 plus, were turned down due to budgetary limitations.

Any farmers in natura/SAC areas were prioritised in the scheme which meant that a large tranche of farmers from the Connemara area have been accepted into the scheme.

In the east of the county, farmers in SAC areas – mainly close to the Corrib and other waterway networks – also got into the scheme that will run for five years and eight months and will be worth a maximum of €4,000 per annum.

Former National IFA Rural Development Chairman, Tom Turley, told the Farming Tribune that there was a lot of disappointment around that Minister Coveney couldn’t see his way to including the applicants in the scheme.

“We had pressed very, very hard for all applicants to get in, and while we welcome the inclusion of 6,000 farmers nationally, it is very disappointing for the other close on 4,000 applicants who have been rejected,” said Tom Turley.

He said that with 13,000 farmers due to exit REP 4 at the end of this year and a further 17,000 to complete their contracts in 2014, it was now vital that the Minister initially sanctioned a one year extension to the scheme.

Mr. Turley said that while ‘down the track’ a new environmental scheme was expected to be rolled out as part of the CAP package, this mightn’t happen until 2015 and in the meantime the exiting REPS 4 farmers had to be catered for.

Last week, Minister Coveney said that the 6,000 new applicants to AEOS 3 would bring to 50,000 the total number of Irish farmers participating in agri-environmental schemes.

He said that the triple aims of the new scheme were to halt bio-diversity loss; to improve water quality and to combat climate change.

Overall the scheme has an annual budget of €20 million, giving an average payment of €3,333 per applicant.