As indicated in an earlier reply to the Deputy, the person named submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements from the 2005 Single Payment Scheme National Reserve under Category A. Category A caters for farmers who inherited land or received land free of charge or for a nominal sum from a farmer who had retired or died before 16 May, 2005 and who had leased out his/her holding to a third party during the reference period 2000 to 2002. The person named was not successful under this category as the land acquired was not received free of charge or for a nominal sum.
The person named submitted an appeal, through his Agricultural Consultant and provided additional documentation in support of his appeal. In all such cases, the procedure is that all contentions put forward in support of an appeal are first of all reviewed within my Department to establish whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant any change to the original decision. In this regard the documentation provided has been examined and his file has been forwarded to the Independent Single Payments Appeals Committee who will carry out a full review of the case and will correspond directly with the person named following the outcome of their review.
The person named also submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements from the 2006 Single Payment Scheme National Reserve under Category B.
The position is that processing of the 2006 National Reserve applications will commence shortly and a formal letter outlining my Department's decision on the 2006 National Reserve will issue to the person named as soon as his application has been processed.