Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 14 November 2018
242. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the category a farmer should put down on the BPS-ANC application form in respect of tenure of land in a case in which the farmers is in adverse possession of land without challenge for a long time but does not have legal title to it; if such land is considered eligible for consideration as regards this and the GLAS scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47258/18]
View answerThe land availability rules, as set out in the Basic Payment Scheme Terms and Conditions document, state that to claim payment under the Basic Payment Scheme, all of the hectares of land declared by the farmer to support their claim (owned, rented-in, leased-in) must be subject to an agricultural activity for a period from the beginning of the year until after the 31 May, or from a period before the 31 May to the 31 December of the scheme year.
The terms and conditions further state that in determining the eligibility of land applied upon to draw down payment, the land declared must be managed by the farmer. If the farmer is not the owner of the land, the farmer must be in a position to provide verifiable evidence that the land is available to them for the required period.
Farmers who enter into leases or letting agreements for any of the lands declared by them on their Basic Payment application must be in a position to provide verifiable evidence if requested that the land is available to them for the required period as set out under the land availability rules. Land that is declared by a farmer on the basis that it is available to them on the 31 May only on foot of an agreement with another party will only be eligible for payment if a written agreement is in place.
With regards to GLAS, farmers admitted to the scheme must submit a payment claim annually within the deadline for the submission of Basic Payment applications. For the purposes of the scheme, the annual payment claim shall form part of the annual Basic Payment Scheme application.
The claimed area of parcels declared on the GLAS screen in the annual Basic Payment Scheme application is deemed to be the area claimed for payment. In the case of Natura land, the eligible area is determined by NPWS and presented on the GLAS system. The GLAS Scheme is fully subscribed and not open to new applications.
