Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 May 2020
876. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if an ANC payment for 2019 will be processed for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6082/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn order to participate in the Areas of Natural Constraints (ANC) scheme, an individual must apply for the Scheme by ticking the appropriate box when submitting their application for the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) online.
Where an applicant had received payment under the ANC scheme in 2018, but did not tick to apply for the scheme when making their 2019 application, they were presented during the application process with a screen message to advise that they had received ANC payment in 2018 but had not ticked the box to apply in 2019. This message required the applicant to explicitly choose whether they wished to apply or not for the ANC Scheme. The online system required this confirmation to be completed before continuing with the submission of the BPS application.
As the person named had received payment in the previous year, they would have received this message when submitting their BPS application online. Thus, the person named chose not to apply for the 2019 ANC Scheme as part of the BPS application process. The BPS application was submitted on 5 May 2019.
The person named subsequently contacted the ANC section in writing on 11 December 2019 stating that they had failed to tick the box to apply for the ANC Scheme.
Correspondence has issued to the person named confirming that, as they did not apply for the scheme when submitting their BPS application, no ANC application could be processed. No evidence was submitted to support the acceptance of an application on force majeure grounds.
The person named was advised in the correspondence that should they wish to appeal the decision of my Department they may do so in writing to the Agriculture Appeals Office. My Department is aware that an appeal has been submitted by the named individual to the Agriculture Appeals Office and that the appeal is currently being processed by that office.
