Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020
790. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a late BEEP application will be accepted from a farmer (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31235/20]
View answerThe objective of the Beef Environmental Efficiency Programme – Suckler is to further increase economic and environmental efficiency in the suckler herd through better quality data on herd performance, supporting decision making on farm and support of best practice in welfare management.
Applications were made via my Department's online application system at www.agfood.ie. The scheme opened for applications on 12th March 2020 and the closing date for receipt of applications was 15th May 2020. As with many other payment schemes that are applied for on-line, applicants may lodge the application themselves or alternatively they may authorise an agent to lodge the application on their behalf. The system keeps a record of all attempts to lodge an application and it gives the applicant or agent confirmation when the application is fully submitted.
There is no record of any attempt to create or lodge a BEEP-S application in respect of this named person. The only record on file is where an agent was authorised by the person named in respect of BEEP-S on 9th October 2020, well after the closing date of 15th May 2020. The same agent successfully applied on behalf of the named person for both the 2019 Beef Exceptional Aid Measure and the 2020 Basic Payment Scheme using the Agfood portal.
As the person named did not submit an application before the closing date, it is not possible to accept the application at this stage.
