I propose to take Questions Nos. 207 to 209, inclusive, together.
Further to the completion of the review of eligible lands under the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme, which was required by EU regulation, my Department wrote to all impacted farmers advising of the status of their lands under the 2019 ANC scheme. These letters included a form to instigate an appeal. The appeals form is also available on www.agriculture.gov.ie. For any farmer who wishes to appeal the status of a particular townland under the 2019 ANC scheme, an independently chaired appeals process is available.
The first step in the appeal process is for a farmer to submit a form to my Department indicating an intention to appeal the status of a particular townland. Further to receipt of these notifications, my Department is providing detailed information to appellants in relation to the data underpinning the status of the townland in question in order that they can base any appeal to the independent Appeals Committee on full information. While timelines will be in a large part dictated by the volume of full appeals received, it is expected that the appeals process will be completed in advance of the commencement of payments under the 2019 ANC scheme.
To date my Department has received 1,263 notifications of appeal from farmers. It should be noted that appeals will be townland based, given the townland structure of the ANC scheme. The appeal notifications received represent 679 distinct townlands. The number of farmers' appeals by county is as follows: -
County
|
Number of ANC Appeals
|
Carlow
|
52
|
Cavan
|
0
|
Clare
|
0
|
Cork
|
18
|
Donegal
|
92
|
Dublin
|
1
|
Galway
|
13
|
Kerry
|
21
|
Kildare
|
32
|
Kilkenny
|
22
|
Laois
|
155
|
Leitrim
|
0
|
Limerick
|
31
|
Longford
|
0
|
Louth
|
8
|
Mayo
|
0
|
Meath
|
13
|
Monaghan
|
0
|
Offaly
|
74
|
Roscommon
|
0
|
Sligo
|
0
|
Tipperary
|
135
|
Waterford
|
16
|
Westmeath
|
22
|
Wexford
|
503
|
Wicklow
|
55
|