Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 March 2012
468 Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the anomaly whereby farmers who have areas of striped commonage, which are unfenced and governed by the rules pertaining to DAS and SPS, are not eligible as forage and that planning permission would be required to allow fencing; and if he will be mindful of these facts in relation to appeals. [12837/12]
View answerLand declared by applicants for the purposes of the Single Payment Scheme and the Disadvantaged Areas must be eligible under the provisions of the relevant EU regulations and under the Terms and Conditions of each Scheme. In general, commonage land, including striped commonage iseligible for payment if it is actively farmed and the area is maintained in Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition. Furthermore, the following conditions must be met as outlined in the Terms and Conditions of the Schemes:
The land must be used and managed by the applicant. The land must be suitable for and compatible with the farming enterprise;
There must be independent and suitable access for animals and/or machinery. Independent access means access by public or private roadway or by a defined right of way. Access over adjoining landowners land, or over land which is subject to a lease or rental agreement to another person, is not acceptable;
There must be defined external boundaries except in the case of commonage;
If, at inspection, the applicant claims to be farming the land with animals then the type of animals must be appropriate to the land and there must be appropriate handling facilities available to meet the animals' welfare requirements.
There must be evidence of an agricultural activity being conducted throughout the parcel; otherwise the unused part of the parcel may be found to be ineligible. This can arise where the stocking rate is too low.
