The following table sets out the number of farmers in each county whose payments under the 2005 single payment scheme had issued by 21 March 2006. The number of applications with outstanding problems, which must be solved prior to payment, is also set out. Payments are continuing to issue to farmers as their applications are processed to completion, in accordance with the EU legislation governing the single payment scheme.
It is not possible at this stage to establish the value of entitlements for farmers, who are awaiting payment or a further supplementary payment. This is due to the fact that my Department is processing applications to transfer entitlements by way of inheritance or private contract clause which in many cases were only recently received. In some instances, farmers are still submitting such applications.
For the same reasons it is not possible to establish the value of the entitlements not claimed in 2005. My Department wrote to over 10,000 persons, who held entitlements but where no application for the single payment scheme was received by the final deadline of 10 June 2005. However, the receipt of the letter, which was issued to the persons in question by registered post, has resulted in many situations being clarified. In some cases, existing applicants have contacted my Department indicating that they inherited, purchased or leased the lands owned by the farmers who were allocated the entitlements. In other cases the entitlements were associated with a herd number for farmers, who submitted applications under the 2005 single payment scheme using a different herd number or where the details of the herd number were altered by a deletion or addition of a name. It will not be possible to establish the value of entitlements which were not applied on until all the applications for the measures referred to above are received and processed by the Department.
On the processing of applications under the single payment scheme, member states may commence payment on 1 December of the year of application, with payments being fully processed by the following 30 June. My priority in 2005, the first year of this new scheme, was to maximise the number of payments to eligible applicants by the earliest date possible of 1 December and I am satisfied that this was achieved. Since then, it has been my absolute priority to ensure that the issues that are holding up the remaining cases are resolved with the applicants concerned and that payments are made without undue delay. To this end, I have arranged that payments are issued on a regular basis as soon as the problems with the outstanding cases are resolved.
County
|
No. of SPS applicants paid up to the 21/03/06
|
No. of SPS applicants not yet cleared for payment
|
Carlow
|
1,705
|
24
|
Cavan
|
4,899
|
73
|
Clare
|
6,122
|
132
|
Cork
|
13,125
|
288
|
Donegal
|
7,871
|
109
|
Dublin
|
673
|
15
|
Galway
|
12,163
|
171
|
Kerry
|
7,668
|
131
|
Kildare
|
2,137
|
41
|
Kilkenny
|
3,560
|
64
|
Laois
|
3,034
|
52
|
Leitrim
|
3,414
|
52
|
Limerick
|
5,308
|
88
|
Longford
|
2,427
|
36
|
Louth
|
1,570
|
23
|
Mayo
|
11,571
|
164
|
Meath
|
3,870
|
59
|
Monaghan
|
4,053
|
70
|
Offaly
|
3,089
|
63
|
Roscommon
|
5,806
|
81
|
Sligo
|
4,022
|
53
|
Tipperary
|
7,144
|
131
|
Waterford
|
2,457
|
72
|
Westmeath
|
3,009
|
34
|
Wexford
|
4,231
|
86
|
Wicklow
|
2,133
|
42
|
Totals
|
12,7061
|
2,154
|