Vol. 489 No. 1
96 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if he will have examinations made into the case of a person (details supplied) in County Waterford who was disqualified from receiving headage payments for a period of two years due to the entry of land on her area aid application which arose as a result of a misunderstanding with the owner of the land she had taken for grazing; and if he will review the matter with a view to lifting the disqualification. [7549/98]
The 1997 area aid application of the person concerned was randomly selected for inspection in accordance with EU regulations. The result of this inspection indicated that a false declaration was made when the applicant declared a parcel of land for which she did not have the rights to claim.
The penalty, as set out in the terms and conditions which govern the scheme for a false declaration made intentionally, is disqualification from the relevant aid schemes for 1997 and from the relevant aid schemes for 1998 in respect of an area equal to that for which the application is rejected.
However, my Department will carry out a review of this case and will be in contact with the person named as soon as this review is completed.
97 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason for the delay in a person (details supplied) in County Sligo receiving his final payment of his suckler cow grant; if his Department will expedite payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7550/98]
Maps have been received from the person concerned and the necessary digitising should be completed within the next two weeks. The processing of the area aid application will then be finalised and any outstanding payments will be issued. Payments have already issued to the person concerned in respect of cattle headage, £2,010 and suckler cow, £1,430.34.
98 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps, if any, he will take to ensure that a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be paid sheep headage, suckler cow premium and special beef premium grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7570/98]
The person concerned declared a forage area of 88.3 hectares on his 1996 area aid application and 65.98 hectares on his 1997 area aid application. When the maps, which were submitted with the application for both years, were digitised and validated against aerial photography the digitised areas amounted to 74.42 hectares and 46.32 hectares respectively. I have arranged for maps of the digitised area to be issued to the person concerned so that the discrepancies can be resolved. When the maps have been returned, duly amended, the case will be finalised and any outstanding payments will issue.
99 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when payment of £19.08 per animal, due in 1996 under the special beef premium ten and 22 months schemes and as part of the BSE compensation package, will be made to a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7571/98]
The regulations governing payment of the 1996 BSE compensation package, which was paid out in October 1996, provided for payment of top-ups in respect of animals which qualified for payment under the 1995 EU suckler cow premium scheme or 1995 EU special beef premium scheme. The regulations also provided for adjustments, upwards and downwards, later on to take account of the number of animals qualifying for payment under the 1996 EU suckler cow premium scheme and the 1996 EU special beef premium scheme. In effect the regulations require that when all balancing payments under the 1996 EU suckler cow premium scheme and 1996 EU special beef premium scheme are made, a comparison is to be carried out between the number of animals qualifying for payment under the 1995 schemes and the number qualifying under the 1996 schemes. Money is to be recouped from those farmers who had fewer animals qualifying under the 1996 schemes. The money so recouped is then to be used to make payments to those farmers who had more eligible animals under the 1996 schemes.
My Department has been in the process of recovering overpayments from those farmers in the former category and this money is to be used to make outstanding payments to farmers in the latter category. Obviously it is important that as much money as possible can be recovered before striking a rate for payment of additional top-ups.
To date, the person named was paid special beef premium BSE compensation amounting to £1,218.36 on 67 animals — £19.08 x 67 — on 7 October 1996. He had 50 additional eligible male animals in 1996 and will, therefore, be entitled to a further payment on these animals. It is expected that the Department will be in a position to make these payments before the end of June 1998.
100 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason eight acres of a holding are not being included in the application by a person (details supplied) in Carlow under the farm retirement scheme, in view of the fact that the applicant was assured by his local office that this acreage would be allowed. [7583/98]
It is a strict condition of the scheme that the area being transferred to any one eligible transferee must be a minimum of five hectares of utilisable agricultural area, UAA.
The applicant in this case split the holding between two separate persons with 3.3 hectares going to one person and 9.04 hectares going to another. As the 3.3 hectares transferred to the former is less than the five hectare minimum required under the scheme no pension is payable on these lands. I understand that the applicant was advised of this by my Department. The pension is being paid on the eligible area of 9.04 hectares.
