Dr. Mary Carey:

I will give a brief overview. There are a lot of details and we are happy to share some of them and documentation after the meeting if anyone has additional questions.

The Department will engage in a fairly intensive information campaign starting in January when we will engage with farmers and advisers concerning the new application process. The scheme will have the usual window for applications so it will open in the middle of February and close on 15 May. The main application will replace the basic payment scheme, BPS, for the single farm payment, area aid or whatever one wants to call it. The schemes will now be called the basic income support for sustainability, BISS, and area-related schemes.

I will outline some of the biggest changes that will happen next year. I have alluded to the first one, which is that the BPS will now become the BISS, which will be based on payment entitlements. All the value of the payment entitlements will change. Convergence will have an impact and the allocation of the ceiling will change the value of the payment entitlements.

There is a new eco scheme. It will replace the greening payment that was based on entitlements in the current CAP. The new eco scheme is not linked to entitlements and will be paid per eligible hectare.

Deputy Fitzmaurice asked about the eco scheme. We do not have an official here who can talk about the eco scheme but we will send, through the Chair, a reply to his question about the space for nature estimates.