Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 December 2004
235 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be allowed to attend an oral hearing to finalise his appeal for consideration of force majeure, under the single payment scheme in order that he can put his case across in person. [32113/04]
View answerThe person named applied for force majeure on the grounds of brucellosis depopulation of his herd during 2000. While epizootic disease is acceptable as force majeure it was decided not to apply force majeure in this case as the exclusion of 2000 from premium entitlements for the person named during the reference period 2000-2002 would have resulted in a lower single payment entitlement. The person named appealed this decision to the independent single payment appeals committee and the findings of the appeals committee were that the original decision taken by my Department should be upheld.
The independent single payment appeals committee was established to re-examine decisions taken by my Department in respect of the single farm payment scheme with which an applicant is unhappy. This committee consists of four appeals officers drawn from the agriculture appeals office and an independent chairman. However, single payment appeals do not fall under the remit of the agriculture appeals office and consequently there is no provision in such cases for an oral hearing of an appeal.
236 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if special consideration will be given to a problem relating to the stocking density of a herd of a person (details supplied) in County Galway; her views on whether this herd had a clear test this person would have been eligible for top rate extensification payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32131/04]
View answerThe person named submitted an application under the 2004 extensification premium scheme. Payments under this scheme are not due to begin until June 2005. Prior to payment, the Department will carry out CMMS based checks for the purposes of determining eligibility for premium on stocking density grounds. Until this check is carried out against a fully updated CMMS database, the Department cannot determine with certainty the stocking density of the holding for 2004.
Under EU regulations, herd owners, whose holdings are totally restricted under veterinary regulations on a census date or within a period of 20 days immediately following a census date, can qualify for a concession whereby 80% of the value of the bovine livestock units present on the holding on the census date in question are taken into account in the calculation of the stocking density. In the case of the person named, the herd was totally restricted from 5 November 2004 and for this reason he will qualify for the granting of a concession applicable to the fifth census date only.
