Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 October 2010
529 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will quantify the extent of the problem faced by his Department regarding digitising of area aid forms in respect of single payment applications; if he will provide a breakdown of the number of disadvantaged area and single payments being delayed by virtue of this process on a county by county basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39036/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department has received over 123,000 applications for the Single Payment Scheme and 102,000 for the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme. It is expected that when processing is completed over 70,000 of these will require digitising to be carried out on some or all of the land parcels the applicant has submitted, compared to an average of 22,000 in previous years. As a result, my Department has facilitated payment to cases on all digitised land, provided that there are no other errors. To date, over 110,000 applicants have received a Single Farm Payment, as well as 88,000 applicants under the Disadvantaged Area Payments Scheme.
A total of 92,652 applicants have received their full 50% advance under the Single Payment Scheme, while a further 17,337 have received a partial payment. Of the remaining unpaid applicants, 773 have received no payment as yet due to un-digitised land, and these are prioritised by my Department.
Similarly, in the Disadvantaged Area Scheme 58,751 farmers have received full payment, with a further 29,302 farmers receiving a part-payment. Some 2,610 applications remain where all of the land declared requires re-digitising. Payment will be made to these applicants when re-digitising is completed and all errors are cleared provided they meet the minimum stocking density of 0.15 livestock units per hectare. In the past many of these cases were not eligible for payment, as they did not meet the stocking density requirement.
I have arranged for my Department to forward to you directly a county-by-county breakdown of these figures.
530 Deputy Beverley Flynn asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the reason a person (details supplied) in County Mayo has had their single payment and disadvantaged area scheme payments based on an area of 3.40 hectares when the total declared area on the application forms for both schemes in 13.8 hectares [39041/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 12 May 2010. Payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme commenced on 22 September, with an advance payment of 75% issuing in respect of those parcels cleared for payment at that stage. A number of parcels listed on the application of the person named required digitisation; immediately this process is complete, provided no errors are identified, the payment due will issue to the person named.
531 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the reason for the delay in payment of grants due to a person (details supplied) in County Cork; the position regarding the digitising of their land maps; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39042/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 30 April 2010. The person named received advance payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme on 21 September and under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October, in both cases on the basis of the land cleared at that stage. A number of the land parcels declared by the person named require re-digitisation in order to remove ineligible features (farmyard and buildings) and, immediately this is completed, the application will be processed with a view to further payments issuing shortly thereafter, provided no further issues have been highlighted.
532 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the reason for the delay in grant payments due to a person (details supplied) in County Cork; the position regarding the digitising of maps on their application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39043/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 6 May 2010. The person named received advance payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme on 21 September and under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October, in both cases on the basis of the land cleared at that stage. A number of the land parcels declared by the person named require re-digitisation in order to remove ineligible features (in one instance, a farmyard) and, immediately this is completed, the application will be processed with a view to further payments issuing shortly thereafter, provided no further issues have been highlighted.
