Vol. 575 No. 3
139 Mr. Ring asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if a person who commenced leasing a farm of land in 2003 can be the beneficiary of the payment resulting from the Fischler proposals, in view of the fact that they were not actually farming the land in 2000/2001. [28372/03]
Under the Agenda 2000 mid-term review, the single decoupled payment is for farmers who actively farmed during the reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002. A person who commenced farming after 31 December 2002 will not have established any entitlements but the person may apply for entitlements to the national reserve. As the detailed rules regarding the implementation of the mid-term review are not yet available, it is not possible to say what the criteria will be for determining the eligibility of applicants to the national reserve. It is expected that applications for entitlements from the national reserve will be invited towards the end of 2004.
140 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food if his Department will allow a decoupled CAP single payment to be made to a person (details supplied) in County Cork. [28377/03]
Following the Agenda 2000 mid-term review, I have decided that all direct payments will be fully decoupled from production as and from 1 January 2005.
With effect from 2005, the decoupled payment, known as the single payment scheme is to be based on the average number of animals or the average number of hectares in the case of arable aid on which payments were made under the livestock premia and arable aid schemes in respect of the three reference years 2000, 2001 and 2002. The single payment is calculated by taking the three yearly average number of animals-arable hectares which attracted payment and multiplying them by the payment rate for 2002 in respect of livestock or by €383.04 per hectare in the case of arable aid. Entitlements are established by dividing this single payment amount by the average number of hectares over the three year period.
The late husband of the person will have entitlements established in his name as a result of his application for the special beef premium in 2000 and slaughter premium in 2000 and 2001. However, as he is now deceased and as the farm is let for five years, the person may not be in a position to activate those entitlements in 2005.
The person named could lease in or purchase the equivalent number of hectares of land prior to 2005 and submit an area aid application in respect of that land in 2005 to enable her to activate those entitlements. If those entitlements are not activated in 2005, they will revert to the national reserve. However, she may be allowed to apply for those entitlements from the national reserve when the lease of her land expires.
As the detailed rules governing the allocation of entitlements from the national reserve are not yet available, it is not possible to say what the criteria will be for determining the eligibility of any applicant to the national reserve. It is expected that those detailed rules will be available in early 2004.
141 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food when payment due to a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary in respect of cattle premium will issue. [28394/03]
The person applied for premium for 21 animals under the 2003 suckler cow premium scheme. The application has been processed and payment amounting to €3765.72 issued on 5 November 2003. This represented an 80% advance instalment for 21 animals. Payment under the 2003 area-based compensatory allowance scheme amounting to €4750.28 was made on 31 October 2003. Payment of 2003 extensification premium is not scheduled to commence until June 2004. For payment of 2002 extensification premium, orders amounting to €2,240 issued to the person named on 5 and 6 June 2003.
The payments made represent the entire amount of extensification premium due to the person for 2002. The person has received her full entitlements under the 2002 special beef premium and slaughter premium schemes. The person submitted no applications under the 2003 special beef premium scheme and has no eligible animals to date under the 2003 slaughter premium scheme.
