Vol. 548 No. 5
130 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the reason a person (details supplied) in County Cork, in respect of a 2001 area aid payment, had lands classified as mountain type; the appeals mechanism available to this person in respect of this classification; the progress made with the EU Commission in terms of a review of this process; the details of the submissions made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5315/02]
The person named was paid €1,019.38 (£802.83) under the 2001 area-based compensatory allowance scheme on 24 September 2001 in respect of 17.84 hectares of mountain-type land at €57.14 (£45) per hectare. This compares with his average headage payment of €678.71 (£534.53) under the old animal-based headage schemes in the three years 1998 to 2000 inclusive.
In 1997, a review of mountain type grazing lands for sheep headage purposes in the more severely handicapped areas and the less severely handicapped areas was carried out by my Department. All land classified as mountain type grazing was subsequently identified as such on the land parcel identification system. This designation as mountain type grazing suited most farmers, especially those engaged in sheep production, allowing them to be paid headage grants on mountain type ewes. However, in designating the areas concerned on the land parcel identification system, regard had to be had to certain natural boundaries such as rivers and roads and it was not possible to exclude certain farms where sheep production did not take place.
