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Departmental Programmes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 December 2012

Tuesday, 18 December 2012

Questions (535)

Michael Healy-Rae

Question:

535. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of the fact that satellite images of land holdings are used every year in checking the eligibility of ground for area aid and so on, if he will provide the following details, the persons who provide these images to his Department; if it is a contract, the amount it cost every 12 months to engage the operator; the person who decides which images are used and the part of the country selected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56498/12]

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Written answers

My Department, in the context of delivering the Single Payment Schemes, Disadvantaged Areas’ Scheme and other area related schemes, is required to carry out a programme of annual inspections. This inspection regime covers the eligibility of land declared to draw down payments.

Land eligibility checks must be carried out on at least 5% of applicants. These checks are carried out to verify that the actual area claimed in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the farmer and to ensure that any ineligible land or features are not included for aid purposes.

With ever improving technology and in the interests of efficient use of limited recourses, and in accordance with the governing EU legislation, the emphasis under the eligibility inspection programme has been to move progressively in the direction of increased use of ‘Remote Sensing’, based on satellite imagery. In the current year, of the overall 7,500 eligibility inspections scheduled, some 75% are being done by means of Remote Sensing (however, remote sensing inspections may give rise to follow-up ground inspections, where it has not been possible to determine definitively the eligibility of certain land features (e.g. scrub) and also where penalties arise).

The satellite imagery used for Remote Sensing inspections is supplied to my Department by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. It is subsequently examined, in accordance with the governing rules, by a specialist service provider contracted for this purpose by my Department, having been selected under a public procurement procedure. The cost of this project in 2012 was €633,450.00

My Department, in accordance with EU rules, determines the SPS applications selected each year for eligibility inspections including the areas of the Country where satellite imagery will be used.

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