My Department is bound, under EU Regulations, to maintain the accuracy the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) which underpins the direct payments. At the start of each year, my Department issues colour maps of all land parcels declared by farmers in the previous year together with a covering letter. In that letter, farmers are clearly informed of the need to carefully examine each map carefully and to identify and exclude from their application all unfarmed land, ineligible features such as buildings, farmyards, scrub, roadways, forests, lakes etc. included in the land parcels. There is, therefore, an onus on all farmers to ensure that the area of land declared by them as eligible for payment under the Direct Payment Schemes is accurate. They are also given the means to do so by making the ortho-photos available to them on an annual basis. These requirements are also made clear in the Terms and Conditions of the Schemes, which accompanies the pre-printed application form issued to all farmers.
In the letters which issue where ineligible areas have been identified, considerable detail regarding the issues and maps to advise of the particular over-claims, are provided, in addition to which farmers are also informed of the appeals process, should they disagree with my Department’s findings. The appeals process I have introduced is both robust and comprehensive; in the first instance, applicants are entitled to have their case reviewed by submitting their appeal on the form provided by my Department. If they are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, they can appeal their case to the independent-chaired Land Eligibility Appeals Committee.
To date, some 10,173 appeals have been received, of which 6,671 have been finalised or in the final stages of processing. In addition, 2,545 cases are in the process of either ground verification visits or administrative validation. A further 957 cases have been received in recent weeks and will be processed as soon as possible. To date, 156 cases were referred to the Appeals Committee for consideration. These cases were reviewed by the Appeals Committee and the applicants will be informed of the outcome of their appeal very shortly.