Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We have to comply with the EU mapping standard, the land parcel identification system, LPIS. We must comply with it by 2019, but Ireland is ahead of most countries in that regard. I have spoken to many other EU agriculture Ministers about this issue and in many countries they feel vulnerable because they have outsourced the system and have no control over it. They are setting targets that they hope the outsourced system will meet, whereas we do most of it in-house - some of the cattle breeding items have been outsourced.

We have had a lot of success in encouraging single farm payment application systems online because we have the software systems in place to deal with this. Some 65% of SPS applications are made on our online system; therefore, it is working. We did have some problems last year in linking the digitisation of mapping with the AEOS and the SPS because when we checked one against the other, they did not match. In some cases, fields were a different shape or size. Members of the committee might remember that last year I got a bit of stick for the delay in making many AEOS payments owing to mapping problems. Farmers became very irate, but if we had paid out using the wrong maps, we would not have been able to draw down EU funds because that is how the audit system works. This is a tedious process, but we are well ahead of most of our EU counterparts. In fact, I am not aware of any other member state that makes payments before we do. That means continuous investment in this area.

For example, Pillar 1 has to link in with the environmental scheme in Pillar 2. The maps must match. A field is a field whether one is applying for a payment in respect of it under the environmental area, disadvantaged area or single farm payment scheme. If a farmer is growing a protein crop and we decide to couple for that, in terms of a couple payment, this will have to be factored into SPS and so on. I am confident our people will be able to do this. They have done much more complex things than this.

I have spoken to other Ministers about how my Department might be able to help their Departments in terms of mapping in particular. For example, I spoke to the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, about whether my Department's mapping system might of be assistance in regard to prioritising people living in the vicinity of a school. As it happens, it did not help. The fact that the Department of Education and Skills even considered raising this issue with my Department is a reflection of the reputation of our IT system. It is not without its faults and every now and again problems are experienced. While our systems are pretty good and are improving all the time, we must continue to invest in them.