Single Payment Scheme

Wednesday, 21 March 2012

Questions (16)

Martin Ferris

Question:

17 Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers that have applied for the single farm payment online so far this year; if he will provide a breakdown by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14639/12]

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Written answers

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (Deputy Simon Coveney)

An analysis of the numbers of applications lodged via iNet, my Department's on-line application facility for the Single Payment Scheme, shows continued, year-on-year growth, across all counties, with a seven-fold increase having occurred between the system being launched in 2007 and 2011, when over 54,000 applications were submitted. Initially, farmers and their approved agents were attracted to iNet by the fact that it guaranteed immediate, verifiable receipt by my Department of their applications and, through the system of in-built validations, significantly reduced the numbers of errors that could be made, thereby ultimately leading to speedier payment. In keeping with the practice of constantly improving the service and options provided by iNet, I am very pleased to see that it has been technically possible to introduce an on-line mapping element into the 2012 release. This new facility allows farmers, or their agents, who need to submit maps to my Department, to do so through iNet, thereby dispensing with the need to submit paper maps. But the benefits go beyond this, because, by virtue of the maps coming in online will result in greater efficiencies for all concerned. The 2012 version of iNet was released some weeks ago and already some 4,051 applications have been lodged (see county breakdown below). Now with iNet, farmers and their agents also have the facility to partially prepare and save draft versions of their applications, available to them to submit when they so wish.

County	No. of Applications
Carlow	35
Cavan	78
Clare	131
Cork	382
Donegal	817
Dublin	52
Galway	273
Kerry	174
Kildare	105
Kilkenny	83
Laois	101
Leitrim	132
Limerick	134
Longford	25
Louth	59
Mayo	246
Meath	75
Monaghan	249
Offaly	47
Roscommon	46
Sligo	50
Tipperary	260
Waterford	224
Westmeath	128
Wexford	105
Wicklow	40
Total	4,051

I would again advise anyone considering availing of the on-line facility to make enquiries via the website, www.agfood.ie or, alternatively, the dedicated Helpdesk at Lo-call 1890 252 118.