Vol. 464 No. 3
128 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the plans, if any, he has to ensure that all farmers receive area aid forms on schedule; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that some farmers in County Donegal did not receive the relevant maps with their area aid applications; and the action, if any, he will take to remedy this problem. [8162/96]
I understand that all of the application forms and maps in respect of farmers in County Donegal, who submitted an area aid form accompanied by the required maps in 1994 or 1995, have been issued. These application forms should be completed and returned to reach the area aid unit, with maps if amendments are being made or new land is being declared, on or before 15 May 1996. I obtained Commission agreement today for an extension of the deadline to that date from the original proposed cut off date of 30 April.
If, however, a farmer has not received his-her area aid application form he-she should obtain a blank 1996 area aid application from the local Teagasc or district livestock office, complete it, and submit it to reach the area aid unit on or before the new closing date. If a farmer has not received his/her maps or is experiencing difficulties with completing the maps, then the farmer should ensure that the area aid application is submitted before the closing date and maps if required should be forwarded as soon as possible thereafter. The maps record the mapping details previously submitted by the farmer and have, therefore, only issued to farmers who submitted a map with an earlier year's application.
