Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 Feb 1997

Vol. 474 No. 3

Written Answers. - Area Aid Applications.

John O'Donoghue

Question:

274 Mr. O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry whether land registry maps and ordnance survey sheets forwarded by farmers together with area aid application forms have been lost in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3071/97]

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. Yates)

As part of the reform of the Common Agriculture Policy in 1992, the Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry was obliged under Council Regulation (EEC) No. 3508/92 to establish an integrated administration and control system. A specific requirement of the system was the development of an alpha-numeric land parcel identification system — LPIS — for all land parcels which are the subject of an area aid application. The purpose of this parcel identification system is to provide the Department with a data-base whereby land parcels being claimed for area aid purposes can be located, identified and have area values and land use attributed. The original deadline for implementation of the system was 1 January 1996 but this was extended recently to 1 January 1997.

The LPIS operated for the 1996 area aid scheme and is currently being updated for 1997. As part of this update, a number of applicants for area aid have been requested to supply maps because their 1996 applications contained nonunique references to one or more land parcels the location of which could not be identified. I should point out that these requests for maps arose only after all documents and maps submitted by the applicants were cross-referenced.

In the case of a large project like this, with over 130,000 applicants and nearly half a million maps, it has not been possible to cross-reference every map with every application and it is inevitable that some maps have been mislaid.

If any area aid applicant has been requested to submit a map which he supplied with a previous application, he should notify my Department in writing or by phone and identify the townland in which that parcel is located. I have arranged for the continued operation of the freefone number 1 800 46 47 48 which farmers can ring. My Department will then arrange for the issue of a map of the townland in question to the applicant.