Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 15 April 2015
251. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the outcome of an appeal under the 2013 single payment scheme in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14069/15]
View answer252. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the outcome of a review under the 2014 single payment scheme in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14070/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together.
In order to comply with EU requirements, the 2013 Single Farm Payment / Disadvantaged Area’s Scheme application of the person named was selected for a ground eligibility inspection.
A number of inspections took place on the holding of the person named, during 2013 and 2014, to ensure completeness. These inspections identified discrepancies between the area declared and the area found result ing in an over-declaration in area of greater than 20%. Based on the terms and conditions of the scheme this resulted in no payment in respect of the 2013 Single Payment Scheme. The person named was notified of this final decision on 28 January 2015.
The person sought a review of this decision and the outcome was to uphold the original decision in respect of the 2013 application. The person named w as not ified of th is outcome on 20 March 2015 and advised of their right to appeal the decision to the independent Agricultural Appeals Office, within 3 months. My Department understands that to date no such appeal has been received.
As part of the review process it was decided that as the person named had endeavoured to reduce their claimed area in respect of their 2014 application, subsequent to the initial 2013 inspection and prior to being informed of the final outcome, the reference areas for 2014 were updated to reflect the outcome of the inspections related to the 2013 application. This increased the area eligible for payment, thereby removing an over-declaration penalty of between 3% and 20% previously applied. An outstanding payment due in respect of the 2014 Single Payment Scheme ha s issued to the nominated bank account of the person named.
