Vol. 547 No. 1
360 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason an area based payment and suckler cow and sheep headage payment have not yet been released to a person (details supplied); if he will expedite the payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2647/02]
The person named furnished an incomplete 2001 area aid application in that he did not include a map for new parcels of land on which he is claiming area aid. The area aid unit made contact with the applicant in this regard, and he subsequently submitted maps which are currently being entered on the Department's electronic database. When the area aid application has been fully processed and found in order, payment due under the 2001 area based compensatory allowance will issue.
Under the 2001 ewe premium scheme, the person named applied on 200 ewes – 100 breeding ewes and 100 hogget ewes. He holds a permanent quota of 200 rights. To enable his application to be processed for payment he was asked on 5 April 2001 to complete a Form EP250 giving details of any losses incurred during the retention period. The person named returned Form EP250 on 29 June 2001 stating that he had applied on 100 ewes and that he had 100 ewes in his flock. In order to clarify the position an inspection of his flock was carried out on 16 August 2001. Following the inspection it was accepted that the person named had inadvertently claimed on 200 ewes. His application should have been in respect of 100 ewes. However, the inspection also revealed that he only had 88 ewes in his flock. He was offered an opportunity to provide documentary evidence in respect of the missing ewes. It was satisfactorily established from the documentary evidence that six ewes were disposed post retention but the documentary evidence submitted in respect of the remaining ewes was deemed unsatisfactory. Consequently, he was advised on 10 January 2002 that a shortfall penalty would apply in respect of six ewes. His application has now been finalised for payment on that basis. He was also advised on 10 January 2002 that he could have this decision reviewed by forwarding a formal appeal to the local district inspector. He has not done so to date.
The person named applied for premium for 78 animals under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme but the application is being processed for 75 animals as he only submitted 75 cattle identity cards. Initial checks on the application revealed a number of cows without dates of last calving and two cows with last calving dates in 1997 all of which require further clarification. An on-farm inspection was carried out on 13 November 2001 at which the spouse of the person named acted as his agent. She was informed again of the requirement to provide evidence of calving dates for a number of animals on the application.
