Vol. 557 No. 1
170 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if an extensification payment will be made to a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary in spite of the fact that this person included a stocking density of 1.4 instead of 1.8 in error on their application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21205/02]
The person named participated in the 2001 extensification premium under the simplified system. On participation he undertook to maintain a stocking density of not more than 2.0 livestock units per hectare for each day of 2001. Under the terms of the relevant regulation my Department is required to carry out a certain percentage of on-farm checks to ensure that stocking densities as chosen are not breached. On 21 September 2001 an on-farm check was carried out in this case and it was established that 28 animals in the 1.0 livestock unit category and 22 in the 0.6 category were present on the holding on that date. Based on an initially processed forage area of 18.61 hectares, a stocking density of 2.2138 livestock units per hectare was established. It has now emerged that the true forage area of the holding of the person named for 2001 amounted to 23.71 hectares. Based on this larger area, a stocking density of 1.737 livestock units per hectare has been established.
Since the revised stocking density is now less than 2.0 livestock units per hectare, 2001 extensification premium will be paid shortly to the person named.
