Written Answers Nos. 204-226
204. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 248 of 24 November 2015, the status of negotiations between the Irish authorities and their Chinese counterparts on restrictions on the live export of shellfish; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44688/15]
View answerFurther to my reply to the Deputy’s question on 24 November 2015, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) issued a formal response to the communication from the Chinese authorities on Friday 27 November and circulated a copy of the response to representatives of the Irish live crab export industry. The SFPA response, inter alia, puts forward Ireland’s views on the suitability of the European testing requirements for live crab and includes a comprehensive technical report on the matter compiled by relevant technical and scientific experts in the SFPA and the Marine Institute. In addition, the SFPA has offered to facilitate further dialogue with the Chinese import authorities in keeping with the Memorandum of Understanding I referred to in my reply of 24 November, and has invited the Chinese authorities to visit Ireland in 2016 to examine our official control systems, laboratories and crab production establishments.
I acknowledge the concerns live crab exporters have at this time and I note that the SFPA has provided regular updates to industry representatives on the matter. I remain satisfied that the procedures which are in place for monitoring the safety of Irish seafood, including live crab, meet the stringent European standards and consumers can continue to have high confidence in the quality of Irish seafood.
205. Deputy Noel Harrington asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 108 of 19 November 2015, if a person (details supplied) in County Cork has received payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44698/15]
View answerAn application under the Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraint Schemes was received from the person named on 29 May, 2015. Processing of the application under both schemes has been finalised, and payments will issue shortly to the nominated bank account of the person named.
206. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Louth will receive payment under the basic farm payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44746/15]
View answerAn application under the Basic Payment Scheme was received in my Department from the person named on 15 March, 2015. As he has not established any entitlements under this Scheme, no payment is due him.
The person named farmed as part of a joint venture under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme. Under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme, a Transfer of Entitlements application was submitted to have the original holding divided into two separate farming entities. As the joint venture established the allocation right in 2013 it was necessary for both parties to submit a Review of Entitlements application form under the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme to establish the number of entitlements to be attributed to each of the new farming entities. As this Review form has not been received to date, my Department will make direct contact with the relevant parties concerned with a view to having the entitlements situation rectified as soon as possible and payment issued shortly thereafter.
207. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Louth will receive payment under the basic farm payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44747/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme application on 7 May 2015. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue.
The application of the person named was selected for a Remote Sensing eligibility inspection. This inspection has now been completed and the results have been finalised. Payments due under the Basic Payment Scheme issued to the nominated bank account of the person named on 10 December 2015. Processing of the payments due under the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme has recently been finalised and payment will issue to the person named shortly.
208. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Louth will receive payment under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44748/15]
View answerAn application under the Basic Payment Scheme was received in my Department from the person named on 20 April 2015. Full payment under the Scheme has issued to the nominated bank account of the person named. The advance payment issued on 19 October and the balancing payment issued on 1 December.
209. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Louth will receive payment under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44750/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme application on 25 May 2015. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue.
The application of the person named was selected for a Remote Sensing eligibility inspection. This inspection is currently being processed with the intention of issuing any payments due under the Direct Payments Schemes as soon as possible. In the event that any queries arise officials in my Department will be in contact with the person named.
210. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) in County Louth will receive payment under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44751/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme application on 29 April 2015. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue.
The application of the person named was selected for a Remote Sensing eligibility inspection. This inspection is currently being finalised with the intention of issuing any payments due under the Direct Payments Schemes as soon as possible. In the event that any queries arise officials in my Department will be in contact with the person named.
211. Deputy Seamus Kirk asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when persons (details supplied) in County Cork will receive payment under the basic payment scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44753/15]
View answerTwo of the persons named farmed separately under the 2013 Scheme. In 2014, the three persons named above entered into a Milk Production Partnership agreement and submitted a 2014 Transfer of Entitlements application to have their entitlements transferred to the above herd number. They subsequently entered into a Registered Farm Partnership under the 2015 Scheme year. The allocation rights attributed to the individual parties under the 2013 Scheme are now being transferred to the Farm Partnership to allow for the number of entitlements to be established for each partner under the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme. This process will be completed shortly and payment will issue shortly thereafter.
212. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 permits the breeding of dogs for the purpose of experimentation; and if he will protect the welfare of these dogs. [44757/15]
View answerResponsibility for the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2010 is a matter for the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government. Implementation of the regulations relating to animals used in medical experiments is the responsibility of the Health Protection Regulatory Authority which comes under the aegis of the Department of Health.
213. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if qualifying young farmers under the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme who need planning permission for work and who will soon turn 40 years of age or will exceed the five-year rule will be given 14 weeks to secure planning permission from the time of the application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44777/15]
View answerThe closing date for the first tranche of the Young Farmers Capital Investment Scheme was the 25 September 2015. I am aware that there were a number of applicants who submitted their application prior to this closing date but who had issues with obtaining the full and final planning permission for investment items proposed, as required under the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme.
In the case of those Young Farmers who had submitted an application and who would otherwise be precluded from applying under the next tranche of the scheme, because of their age or because they had now been farming for longer than five years, my Department provided an extension until the 11 December to allow submission of the required planning permission.
214. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will deal with a scenario where parties to partnership agreements between older and younger farmers, which have not yet been processed by his Department due to technical difficulties, cannot access the green low-carbon agri-environment scheme within the current deadline of 14 December 2015; the alternative for these farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44788/15]
View answerAny partnership which submitted a 2015 claim for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) was eligible to apply for GLAS under both tranches 1 and 2. However, partnerships which were created after the closing date for the 2015 BPS were not eligible to apply for GLAS because the BPS declaration on which the application is founded was not made in the name of that partnership, but rather in the name of its individual members. This is the same rule that applies to individual applicants, i.e. a BPS declaration must have been submitted for 2015 in the name of the proposed GLAS applicant. It is important to note that individual members of these new partnerships remained eligible to submit applications for GLAS Tranches 1 or 2 in their own right, and of course these partnerships will be perfectly entitled to make an application as a partnership now under Tranche 3.
I am aware, however, that there were a small number of cases where members of a newly established partnership found themselves unable to submit individual applications under the current tranche, as the agent-client links based on their original herd numbers had been broken. In these cases the applicants should contact my Department and arrangements will be made to facilitate the submission of applications under the individual herd numbers.
215. D'fhiafraigh Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív den Aire Talmhaíochta, Bia agus Mara cén uair a dhéanfar íocaíocht faoin Scéim Buníocaíochta agus faoi Scéim na Limistéar Srianta Nádúrtha le feirmeoir i gContae na Gaillimhe (sonraí leis seo) do 2015; cén fáth go bhfuil moill ar an íocaíocht seo; agus an ndéanfaidh sé ráiteas ina thaobh. [44847/15]
View answerFuarthas iarratas faoin Scéim Buníocaíochta/Scéim na Limistéar Srianta Nádúrtha ón duine a ainmnítear an 30 Márta, 2015. Tá próiseáil an iarratais faoin dá scéim ar bun faoi láthair. Ar chríochnú an phróisis seo, déanfar athbhreithniú breise ar an iarratas ag féachaint le híocaíocht a eisiúint go díreach do chuntas ainmnithe bainc an duine a ainmnítear ag an dáta is luaithe is féidir.
216. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment will issue under the 2015 basic payment scheme and the areas of natural constraint scheme to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; the reason for the delay; the number of entitlements this person has; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44850/15]
View answerAn application under the 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) Schemes was received from the person named on 27 May 2015.
Processing of the ANC application was completed and payment issued on 2 November 2015 in relation to Mountain Area land. Further information was received from the person named on 28 November 2015 regarding the status of his land vis a vis the support under the ANC scheme for island land. This information is currently being reviewed.
The person named also submitted a 2015 Private Contract Clause application to my Department to have 9.33 hectares and the corresponding entitlements transferred to him by lease. The transferor under this application was also transferor to a third party under a separate Private Contract Clause. My Department wrote to the transferor on 1 December requesting further information in relation to a land lease in order to finalise processing of these two applications. This information has now been received and the application pertaining to the person named can now be processed to allow for the transfer of land and corresponding entitlements. Payment under the Basic Payment Scheme will issue as soon as possible.
217. Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork whose holding was the subject in previous years of a Department satellite and ground inspection and whose 2015 application was amended accordingly has found that an application has again been the subject of penalty for ineligible grounds; if he will offer a rational explanation for this given the previous approval of the lands involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44862/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme application on 28 April 2015. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue. The application of the person named was selected for a Remote Sensing eligibility inspection.
Following this inspection a maximum eligible area (MEA) of 108.65 Ha was determined. Payments issued on this basis under the Basic Payment and the Areas of Natural Constraint Schemes to the nominated bank account of the person named on 1 December 2015 and 26 November 2015 respectively. The person named was notified of the inspection findings on 18 November 2015 and of their right to seek a review. To date no such request has been received.
The person named was also selected for a remote sensing inspection in 2012 and a determined area of 124.23 HA was found as this area was greater than the total claimed area of the person named no penalty was incurred and payments on this basis under the Single Farm Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Schemes issued to the nominated bank account on 5 December 2012 and 10 December 2012 respectively.
218. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the process used to set organic standards for produce both produced on land and in aquaculture; the steps he has taken to ensure the standards are comparable in respect of the use of medicines, antibiotics, feed, fertiliser and other products used in production; if any analysis has been carried out on the comparative standards used to certify land-based production and aquaculture production as organic; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44896/15]
View answerOrganic Standards for terrestrial and aquaculture products are harmonised at European Union level by Regulation. These organic regulations set down in some detail the technical standards of organic production. The relevant regulations are:
- Council Regulation (EC) No. 834/2007 of 28 June 2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Regulation (EEC) No. 2092/91
- Commission Regulation (EC) No. 889/2008 of 5 September 2008 with detailed rules on production, labelling and control
- Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1235/2008 of 8 December 2008 with detailed rules concerning import of organic products from third countries.
On the 1 of July 2010, new rules covering organic aquaculture production of fish, shellfish and seaweed entered into force. Regulation 710/2009 set conditions for the aquatic production environment and impacts on other species. It deals with the separation of organic and non-organic units and specifies animal welfare conditions including maximum stocking densities. It also lays down regulations in respect of the use of veterinary medicines, including those used as part of compulsory eradication schemes, and sets out the general rules on disease prevention and parasite control.
The rules of both land-based and aquaculture production systems are harmonised at EU level. The organic standards implemented by the Organic Certifying Bodies are based on these harmonised rules. All organic operators must, at a minimum, be inspected annually. This annual inspection, carried out by the approved Organic Certifying Bodies includes detailed checks to ensure compliance with the rules of organic production. The Department of Agriculture, Food and The Marine, being the competent authority for the sector, has oversight of the production system. Organic operators must also be compliant with all horizontal legislation applicable to the production process and product.
Separate organic standards are agreed for both land based and aquaculture production. While there are many elements of organic certification common to both production systems, those elements that differentiate the two organic production systems are identified and dealt with separately in the regulations. These regulations are subject to ongoing review and amendment. The Commission Regulatory Committee on Organic Production, which is representative of all Member State delegations, reviews and updates the standards for organic production, while a separate independent scientific committee (ECTOP), established by the EU Commission, also reviews the standards, produces reports and provides technical advice.
219. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question Number 344 of 6 October 2015, the status of the appeal concerned; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44899/15]
View answerAn application under the Review of Entitlements measure of the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme was submitted online on the 27 May 2015 in which the person named requested to have her entitlements topped up to the national average under the ‘force majeure’ category of the National Reserve.
Under EU Regulation ‘force majeure’ is defined as:
(a) The death of the beneficiary;
(b) Long-term professional incapacity of beneficiary;
(c) A severe natural disaster gravely affecting the holding;
(d) The accidental destruction of livestock buildings on the holding;
(e) An epizootic or a plant disease affecting part or all of the beneficiary’s livestock or crops respectively;
(f) Expropriation of all or a part of the holding if that expropriation could not have been anticipated on the day of lodging the application.
As the circumstances outlined do not pertain to the person named, she does not qualify under Force Majeure. A further appeal was made under the ‘Specific disadvantage’ category of the National Reserve on the 17 September, 2015. This appeal is processed and a letter has issued to the person named informing her of the outcome of the appeal which was also unsuccessful. In 2014, the person named received a total payment including Grassland Sheep Scheme of €2,438.28. Under the convergence model of the new CAP reform the person named will benefit from an increased value to her entitlements. Her total payment including greening will reach approximately €6,166 by 2019. This will result in an increase of approximately 150% from her 2014 Direct Payments.
220. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a forestry premium payment to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44900/15]
View answerThe applicant’s final premium payment for his plantation has been withheld due to outstanding remedial works on the site. The contract was referred to the Forest Service’s District Inspector for an on-site inspection and he has now reported that another growing season is required to determine the effects of the fertiliser that has been applied. The Forest Service will send the applicant a Declaration of Completion of Works form that should only be submitted when the plantation has reached the standard required under the scheme but not before the end of September 2016 (the end of the next growing season).
221. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a payment under the basic payment scheme to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44917/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Transfer of Entitlement Allocation Right and Reference Value application to my Department to transfer entitlements by way of gift. This application is currently being processed and payment under the Basic Payment Scheme will issue as soon as possible.
222. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment under the agri-environment options scheme 1 will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44933/15]
View answerThe person named commenced their AEOS 1 contract on 1 September 2010 and has been paid in full for the 2010-2014 scheme years. The first instalment of 85% of the annual payment in respect of the 2015 scheme year issued on the 11 December 2015. It is expected that the final 15% payment will issue shortly.
223. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment under the basic payment scheme and the areas of natural constraint scheme will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Roscommon; the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44936/15]
View answerAn application under the 2015 Basic Payment/Areas of Natural Constraints Schemes was received from the person named on 21 May 2015. Processing of the Areas of Natural Constraints application has recently been finalised and payment will issue shortly, directly to the nominated bank account of the person named.
The person named submitted a 2015 Transfer of Entitlement Allocation Right and Reference Value application to my Department. My Department wrote to the person named regarding further information required in relation to land parcels to facilitate processing of the application. This application has now been fully processed and payment under the Basic Payment Scheme will issue in the coming days.
224. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo has not received farm payments; the reason the transfer of entitlements has taken so long to be finalised; if he will expedite the application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44970/15]
View answerThe person named submitted a 2015 Transfer of Allocation Right and Reference Value application to my Department. This application sought the transfer of allocation rights and values by inheritance. There were issues regarding leased land that required to be clarified with the person named in order to process the application. These issues have now been clarified, the application has been processed and payment under the Basic Payment Scheme will issue in the coming days.
225. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Wexford under the single payment scheme, the reason for the delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45038/15]
View answerMy Department received a 2015 Transfer of Entitlement Allocation Right and Reference Value application from the person named. This application has been processed and payment under the Basic Payment Scheme issued to the person named on 10 December.
226. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the ground rents he or agencies under the remit of his Department pay, by named property, name of landlord and amount payable, in 2015 and 2016 in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45048/15]
View answerMy Department does not pay any ground rent. The information in relation to agencies under the aegis of my Department is a matter for the agencies themselves.
