Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 May 2013
238. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will extend the closing date for single farm payment applications in view of the impact the current weather conditions are having on normal farm practices and the decision by his Department not to allow applications to be accepted in local departmental offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23550/13]
View answerUnder the governing EU Regulations, which are directly applicable in the State, the latest date for receipt of applications under the Single Payment Scheme is 15 May; therefore, I do not have any latitude available to me to extend this date.
While the level of applications in respect of the 2013 Scheme received by midnight last night has yet to be definitely tallied, it is clear that the vast majority of applications were received by my Department on time. A feature of the 2013 campaign is the record number of applications lodged via iNet, my Department’s on-line application facility.
Also, in order to improve its service to farmers, it was decided to formally acknowledge – either by text message or by post – all SPS application forms received in 2013. This will assist those farmers, who may have forgotten to submit their application and who otherwise would not be conscious of this and who can still avail of late application arrangements for up to 25 days after the standard closing date, with a sliding scale of penalties; details of these are set out in the Terms and Conditions sent to all applicants and also available on my Department’s website.
However, in order to be in a position to carry out this process, it was necessary to provide that 2013 SPS forms together with entitlement-related applications should be submitted directly to the Department’s Single Payment Unit in Portlaoise, where extended opening hours operated in recent days to facilitate applicants.
