Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 December 2013
9. Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the mapping and digitisation of uplands takes account of the fact that hill areas contain inclines and slopes that cannot be correctly measured by a mapping system which has regard only for the base area of the mapped area; if he will describe the procedure for mapping elevated lands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53141/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am asking the Minister whether the procedure within the mapping system for measuring gross area is different in the case of mountain or elevated land, as opposed to flat land.
One of the challenges faced by those involved with the mapping system is that they have to rely on an image from space. The move from getting images from high-flying aircraft to getting images from satellites has allowed us to be much more precise. The imagery now available to us allows us to see the animals in the fields. I understand some challenges are encountered when photographs are taken from above. There can be some uncertainty regarding contours, etc. That is why some of the imagery has to be backed up with physical inspections. I encourage farmers who feel the new mapping system has in some way treated them unfairly, in terms of land eligibility or anything else, to submit appeals. If there are any question marks in that regard, we will send inspectors out to make judgment calls. There may be genuine problems in cases of lands with significant contours etc. We are aware of this issue. We are open to checking satellite imagery. Images that are crystal clear might not take account of significant contours in mountainous areas. I am sure Deputy Kyne is familiar with cases that may require individual inspections at farm level.
I am not talking about any particular case. I often drive past large mountainous commonage areas that are sloped. Penalties are being imposed on many farmers who are thought to have over-claimed. They are losing money because of this. I think it is a genuine issue. Farmers could be losing a certain number of hectares on the basis of assessments involving the mapping system that is used at present. If the lands in question were assessed by an engineer, it might be found that the gross area is actually higher in some cases.
The measurement of land area within the land parcel identification system respects all national surveying conventions with regard to slopes or hill land. The area quoted on Ordnance Survey Ireland maps, on which much of the land parcel identification system database is built, is based on the principle of measuring the horizontal or two-dimensional area. In cases of sloped land, this is the area of land measured on the flat or plain area. This convention extends to the purchase of agricultural land as well, whereby a purchaser would only pay for the horizontal area within the holding and not the sloped area. This procedure is the same as the method used during the single farm payment reference period. We are doing everything we can, in light of all the information available to us, to try to take account of contours and slopes. Farmers who feel they are being hard done by as a result of the use of this system should seek appeals to ensure their land holdings are accurately measured.
I compliment Deputy Kyne on tabling this very good question. I presume the same thing applies in drumlin areas. The fact that the slope is not continuous probably makes it far more difficult to measure the land area. The Department's systems have become far more accurate. It is able to remove narrow tracks from its calculations. Are there any plans to improve the software system in recognition of the problem that has been raised by Deputy Kyne?
We are changing our software systems all the time. We have practically designed a new system.
I know.
It is working, by the way.
We are receiving the brunt of it in our offices.
That may be so, but it is because we are in the middle of a correction period. Other countries in the EU that are far bigger than Ireland are unable to do what we are doing. Since the middle of the summer, we have reassessed practically every one of the hundreds of thousands of land parcels in this country. I regard the judgment that has been made of the amount of land that is potentially ineligible as pretty accurate. We have put systems in place to allow farmers to submit appeals if they feel the measurements are inaccurate. I would say the accuracy of our system is pretty good, by and large. The current reform process, which essentially involves a correction of the inaccuracies of the last system, is difficult for farmers who are seeing some of their lands deemed ineligible. By the time the process has been fully corrected, within the next six months or so, Ireland will be one of a few countries in the EU to have done that. Significant disallowances and fines, which would be multiples of the value of the correction figure we are now going to deliver, will be avoided as a result.
