Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 7 Dec 1993

Vol. 436 No. 7

Written Answers. - Area Aid Applications.

Ivan Yates

Ceist:

18 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason farmers are required to supply maps of their farms in connection with area aid applications; the reason he has specified that the maps supplied must be originals; whether a similar requirement will apply in future years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Jim Higgins

Ceist:

25 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason farmers are required to supply maps of their farms in connection with area aid applications; the reason he has specified that the maps supplied must be originals; whether a similar requirement will apply in future years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Mary Flaherty

Ceist:

63 Miss Flaherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason farmers are required to supply maps of their farms in connection with area aid applications; the reason he has specified that the maps supplied must be originals; whether a similar requirement will apply in future years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Johnny Fox

Ceist:

88 Mr. J. Fox asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason it is necessary for livestock farmers to present maps for subsidy purposes when they are actually being paid on a headage and quota basis; and the arrangements, if any, he has made for small farmers who cannot afford these expensive maps.

John Connor

Ceist:

90 Mr. Connor asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry his views on whether the mapping requirements under the area aid scheme for non-tillage farmers recently announced by his Department, are appropriate and an acceptable cost and that many of the ordnance survey maps demanded for the scheme are out of date; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Patrick D. Harte

Ceist:

96 Mr. Harte asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason farmers are required to supply maps of their farms in connections with area aid applications; the reason he has specified that the maps supplied must be originals; whether a similar requirement will apply in future years; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Colm M. Hilliard

Ceist:

176 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if land registry maps are acceptable on 25 inch scale for the area aid scheme; and the circumstances in which no map is required when making these applications.

Colm M. Hilliard

Ceist:

177 Mr. Hilliard asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if farmers have to provide ordnance survey maps with their 1994 area aid applications which are unchanged if they provided photocopies of maps with their 1993 applications.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry (Mr. J. Walsh)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 25, 63, 88, 90, 96, 176 and 177 together.

In response to an item raised on the Dáil Adjournment on 10 November I outlined the requirements of the EC regulations with regard to the identification of agricultural land parcels in the context of administration and control of the premium schemes and the arable area payments schemes flowing from the CAP reform.

To ensure that the EC rules for the various premium and disadvantaged areas headage schemes and the arable area payment schemes are complied with in 1994, farmers are required to submit a map or maps showing the boundaries of the holding as well as the boundaries of each plot on the holding. The maps are required to help identify and locate the areas of land being farmed as submitted in the area aid application which applicants for various EU premia and headage grants have to submit. In the livestock sector, the necessity to submit the area aid application is linked to the stocking density provision under the suckler cow and special beef premium schemes and under all disadvantaged areas headage schemes. In 1993 I succeeded in confining the requirement to submit maps to arable aid applicants only but, from 1994 on, maps are required from all applicants for headage and premia payments who are obliged to submit area aid applications.

The normal requirement is that farmers must submit with their area aid applications Ordnancy Survey maps on the 25 inches to the mile scale in all areas for which maps on this scale are available. Maps on the 6 inches to the mile scale will be acceptable from farmers who are already in possession of such maps and from those in areas where 25 inch scale maps are not available. In addition, official Land Registry maps already in the possession of farmers will be accepted with 1994 area aid applications. I have had to point out to farmers that I have been advised by the Land Registry that they cannot guarantee delivery by the 1994 area aid application deadline of 31 March 1994 of any Land Registry maps ordered from them now other than those required for normal land transactions.

Arising from my concern about the position of farmers who require more than one map to cover their holdings, the Ordnance Survey office has made arrangements to reduce the financial burden of map purchase for such farmers.

The following special arrangements are in place for farmers needing maps: £25 for the first map; £12.50 each for the second, third and fourth map; £12.50 each for additional maps where an individual farmer can provide proof that his/her holding extends over additional Ordnance Survey sheets; and £2 postage to cover all these maps.

These revised fees apply to all orders in connection with area aid applications submitted to Ordnance Survey before 15 December next. The new arrangements mean that the price for any maps required by a farmer over and above the first is reduced by 50 per cent. All of the revised prices have to be compared with the normal charge of £42. Help is available to farmers in Teagasc offices to identify the sheet numbers of their map requirements and maps may be ordered through these offices.

Where Ordnance Survey or Land Registry maps are out of date — this can happen with changes in field boundaries etc., which take place all the time — livestock producers will have to do in 1994 what the arable aid producers had to do this year. They will have to amend the maps to reflect the up-to-date posicine tion before submitting them with their area aid applications.

The Department needs to have confidence in the accuracy of any maps submitted. They need to be legible and true to scale. Photocopies frequently are not. Thus, we require original Ordnance Survey or official certified Land Registry maps.

Farmers who submitted maps with their area aid applications in 1993 need not submit maps again with their 1994 and future applications where there are no changes in the land farmed in 1994. Those submitting maps with their 1994 area aid applications need not submit maps with their 1995 and future applications if there are no changes in the areas declared by them in those years. Even where such changes take place the only maps that need to be submitted will be those covering the parts of their holdings that are changed. This means that the outlay arising from the purchase of maps will benefit the vast majority of farmers over a number of subsequent years.

Finally, it has to be remembered that the value of the various EC premium and headage schemes to Irish farmers in the future will be of the order of £500 million to £600 million per year and that we must be prepared to meet EU requirements if these payments are to be guaranteed.