Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 July 2013
451. Deputy John O'Mahony asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo was turned down for agri-environment option scheme 3; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33159/13]
View answerAn application under the Agri-Environment Options Scheme from the person named was received in my Department on 29 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,
4. farmers who previously participated in REPS commencing with smallest farms, and
5. others based on farm size (again favouring smaller holdings).
The person named was a previous participant in REPS. Based on the funding available farmers in category 4 with 22.06 hectares of utilisable agricultural area and below were successful. As the farm size of the person named is 33.74, the application was unsuccessful. On 27 May 2013, a letter issued to the person named informing him that he was not successful and setting out the reasons.
