Vol. 505 No. 3
101 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the section where it is stated in the terms and conditions of the REP scheme applicable on 1 February 1996 that a leased share of a share of commonage is ineligible for payment under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13665/99]
The position is that as from 10 December 1997 leased commonage is not eligible for payment under the REP scheme and notification to this effect was sent to all planners and planning agencies. This decision was made against a background of the receipt in the Department of a significant number of REP applications with high proportions of leased commonage land. Some of the applications were in respect of lands which were of entirely leased commonage.
In order to safeguard the financial interests of the EU and the national Exchequer these applications had to be assessed thoroughly to ensure they were genuine and complied with the terms and conditions of the scheme. Consideration of the eligibility of such cases involved consultation with the offices of the Attorney General and the European Commission and the Commission concluded that payment of REP on leased commonage could not be justified.
