Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2019
454. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the criteria used to classify farmers as eligible or ineligible for scheme payments in Pillar 1 and 2; and if the number of eligible and ineligible farmers combined equate to the number of farmers participating in a scheme, for example, GLAS. [3985/19]
View answerThe eligibility criteria for the wide range of CAP Pillar I and II schemes run by my Department are set out in the Terms and Conditions of schemes. These terms and conditions vary from scheme to scheme and full details are published on my Department's website: www.agriculture.gov.ie.
As the Deputy would expect, eligibility criteria vary from scheme to scheme. Some schemes are multi-annual in nature and while an applicant may be eligible to join, the eligibility status for payment each year will depend on the applicant meeting specific requirements before certain dates over the lifetime of the scheme. Other factors which can affect eligibility include the requirement for a participant to maintain certain farming practices or eligible land over the lifetime of a multi-annual scheme, as failure to do so can affect eligibility for payments.
In some schemes, an applicant can go from being eligible to being ineligible as normal processing is carried out during the year.
