Michael Ring
Ceist:271 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo only received a suckler cow premium for 2001 on two animals, when this person applied on 28 animals. [15744/02]
Written Answers. - Grant Payments.
The person named applied for premium for 34 animals under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme. According to the terms and conditions of the scheme, producers must submit an area aid application if they wish to be paid premium on animals in excess of 15 livestock units. As there is no record of a 2001 area aid application being submitted by the herdowner and as he has already been paid special beef premium on 5.4 livestock units, his suckler cow premium payment has been limited to 9.6 livestock units comprising of two heifers under two years and 8.4 cows. He has been paid his full entitlement on 10.4 animals. An advance payment issued on 24 October 2001 with a balancing payment on 5 February 2002.
Though the person named opted to participate in 2001 extensification premium under the census system, the question of payment cannot be considered because he did not submit an area aid application in 2001.
Michael Ring
Ceist:272 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when extensification for 2001 will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [15745/02]
The person named participated in the 2001 extensification premium opting for the census system. When herdowners were notified by letter of the third census date for 2001 extensification premium, they were requested to return their completed CEN.1 forms to the Department by Friday, 5 October 2001. The CEN.1 form catered for the first three of five census dates in 2001 while the CEN.2 catered for the remaining two. In November 2001 the Department wrote to those herdowners who at that stage had still not returned their CEN.1 forms giving them a final opportunity to do so. The letter advised that, if still interested in 2001 extensification premium, herdowners must lodge their outstanding forms by Friday, 14 December 2001.
The relevant EU regulation requires that on-farm checks must be carried out on 10% of herdowners participating. The purpose of these checks is to establish whether discrepancies exist between animal numbers as declared on CEN.1 and 2 forms vis-à-vis what was actually found to have been present on holdings on the census dates checked. Cases are selected for on-farm checks using a risk analysis process that is structured on declarations made by herdowners on their CEN.1 and CEN.2 forms. Where the CEN.1 and-or CEN.2 form is not returned to the Department, the case simply cannot be selected for any check because there are no declarations made on which the check itself can be compared against.
The person named did not return her CEN.1 form but her partly completed CEN.2 form was lodged in the Department on 14 December 2001. In view of the events as outlined, I regret that the person named cannot be considered for payment of extensification premium in 2001. The person named was paid her full entitlements under the 2001 suckler cow premium scheme, the 2001 special beef premium scheme and the 2001 area-based compensatory allowance scheme.