Dinny McGinley
Ceist:838 Deputy Dinny McGinley asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when single farm and disadvantaged area payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal. [48286/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 12 January 2011
Ceisteanna (785, 786, 787, 788, 789)
Freagraí scríofa
An application under the Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on the 12 April 2010. This application was selected for and was the subject of a Ground Eligibility and Animal Identification Inspection. The inspection process is complete and the application has been fully processed. Advance payment under the Single Payment Scheme issued on the 23 December and balancing payment will issue within one week. Payment under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme will issue within one week.
Deirdre Clune
Ceist:839 Deputy Deirdre Clune asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the reason for the delay in the single farm payment to farmers in the Cork area in 2010; the timeline for full payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48292/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder the provisions of the governing EU Regulations, payments under the Single Farm Payment may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the Scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels available to them; details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), my Department's computer-based land parcel tracking system. Details of the use and area claimed for each of some one million parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by my Department.
In Ireland, the vast majority of Scheme applicants have been making sufficient deductions from their claims to take account of ineligible areas, in that they reduced the area claimed. However, in many cases as no mapping evidence supporting these deductions were provided, the ineligible features were not, therefore, recorded onto LPIS. As LPIS underpins all the area-based payments, worth in excess of €1.8 billion annually, it is crucial that it accurately reflects the true position on the ground, particularly given the audit scrutiny that this Scheme attracts not just in Ireland but also in all Member States. To this end, the initiative I took earlier this year in urging all farmers to map out ineligible areas was crucial and, given the overwhelming response, absolutely vital.
The regulatory payment date under the Scheme is 1 December; however, following my approach, agreement at was reached at EU level which allowed advance payments to begin issuing as and from 18 October, with balancing payments commencing on 1 December. However, in addition to issuing balancing payments to those farmers whose applications were fully processed and maps fully digitised, payments also issued to those farmers where some or all of their maps still remained to be digitised, with the payment being calculated on the basis of the confirmed eligible land. Because of this decision, which I made following consultation with the EU Commission, many farmers, whose balancing payments would otherwise have been delayed until their digitising was complete, received payment.
Under the 2010 Scheme, a total of 12,821 Cork applicants submitted eligible applications and, to date, 12,583 of these have received payments, worth in excess of €149.79 million. Payments are continuing to issue twice weekly as individual cases are cleared. While I am determined that this momentum in clearing cases will be maintained and that the maximum numbers of farmers will receive their full payments as the earliest possible date, at the same time, however, I must continue to emphasise the absolute urgency in getting the mapping system fully accurate and up-to-date to protect Irish direct payments.
Michael Creed
Ceist:840 Deputy Michael Creed asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when single farm payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48296/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme was received from the person named on 12 May 2010. The 50% advance payment which issued on 18 October and the interim balancing payment which issued on 1 December were on the basis of those parcels cleared for payment at that stage, as a number of the land parcels listed on the application of the person named required re-digitisation. This process was completed in mid-December, which allowed the application to be further processed, with the final balancing payment issuing to the person named on 16 December.
Paul Kehoe
Ceist:841 Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when single farm payment will issue in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48298/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme was received from the person named on 26 April 2010. Payments under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme have commenced nationally on 18 October 2010. The person named submitted an application with 21 land parcels, 7 of which required re-digitisation. My Department has now completed this re-digitisation process. Payments to the person named were made under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October 2010, 1 December 2010 and the final balancing payment was made on 23 December 2010.
Enda Kenny
Ceist:842 Deputy Enda Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the payments made to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo in 2010 under the single payment scheme; if other payments are due to them under the same scheme; if their payments have been reduced in the past year; if so, the reason for same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48341/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme / Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 13 May 2010 declaring 28.69 hectares of forage land. A number of land parcels listed on the application required re-digitising. Payments on clear parcels were made to the person named under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October 2010 and on 1 December 2010. My Department has now completed this re-digitisation process and a final balancing payment was made on 21 December 2010. The applicant has been fully paid in respect of the Single Payment Scheme and he has also received full payment under the 2010 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme. I can confirm that the payments under these Schemes due to the applicant were not subject to any reduction.