Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 26 June 2013
203. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) was not accepted into the agri-environment option scheme 3; if he intends to accept more applicants into the scheme; his plans to allow young applicants into the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30858/13]
View answerAn application under the Agri-Environment Options Scheme from the person named was received in my Department on 30 November 2012. The process of ranking and selecting all AEOS applicants was clearly set out in the scheme documentation. Acceptance into the scheme was established using the pre-determined selection criteria as follows:
1. farmers in the Boora region of Co. Offaly who chose Wild Bird Cover Option B (Grey Partridge) as one of their selected options,
2. farmers with a minimum of 0.5 hectares of designated land,
3. farm partnerships,
4. farmers who previously participated in REPS commencing with smallest farms and
5. others based on farm size (again favouring smaller holdings).
Based on the funding available farmers in category 4 with 22.06 hectares of utilisable agricultural area and below were successful. Category 4 farmers with areas greater than this and all farmers in category 5 were unsuccessful. The person named comes under category 5 as he had not previously participated in REPS. On this basis a letter issued to the person named on 27 May informing him that he was not successful and setting out the reasons. The person was also informed of right of appeal to AEOS Section. An appeal was received from the person named and it is currently being considered. The person named will be notified in writing of the outcome of this appeal once a decision has been made. I have no plans to allocate additional funding to AEOS 3 in order to extend the number of available places in the Scheme.
