Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Timmy Dooley as an ceist thábhachtach seo a ardú i mo Roinn.

The single farm payment, under which €1.25 billion is paid annually to Irish farmers, is an extremely important scheme not just to the agricultural industry, but to the rural economy as a whole. I am very pleased to confirm that almost €820 million was paid out to over 116,000 farmers in the two days since the issuing of the 70% advance payments commenced.

Under the provisions of the governing EU regulations, payments under the single payment scheme may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels that are available to them. Details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on my Department's land parcel identification system. Details of the use and area claimed for each of around one million parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by my Department.

In advance of the closing date for the single payment scheme on 15 May each year, my Department sends pre-printed application forms to each applicant and these include a list of parcels declared by the applicant in question the previous year. It is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that the details in each year's application are accurate. Therefore, applicants are advised of the need to confirm their right to declare such parcels and to make the appropriate deductions to the area of eligible parcels as necessary, such as where a house or other building has been constructed, and to submit maps with their applications to allow accurate deductions to be made. It is also necessary for applicants to exclude ineligible features such as scrub, roadways and so on. Therefore, the LPIS database has to be amended on an ongoing basis to reflect any permanent changes such as parcel boundary changes, addition of new parcels and so on.

The European Commission has recently imposed very significant adjustments - known as corrections - on many member states for not carrying out sufficient checks to ensure that applicants adhere to the regulatory requirements governing the SPS and rural development area-based schemes. Ireland is one of those member states in respect of which the commission services are continuing their audit process. My Department initiated a process whereby the ortho-photos of land parcels declared by applicants were reviewed. If it was deemed that some of the area of the parcels reviewed was ineligible arising from house-sites, farmyards, ponds, trees and scrub, the ineligible areas were deducted from the claimed area and payments in respect of the period 2005 to 2008 were re-calculated.

In the vast majority of cases, the applicants were making sufficient deductions for the ineligible features that my Department digitised from the original parcels, as required under the EU regulations. Therefore, there were no over-payments in these cases. However, cases have been identified where it initially appears that the claimant in question has not made sufficient allowance for ineligible areas, thereby raising the possibility of incorrect payments having been made.

Mindful of the potential financial implications for those farmers facing re-calculations following the identification of apparently ineligible areas, I have put in place a robust appeal system. Individual farmers are advised in writing of the level of overpayment identified and advised of their right of appeal. Receipt of all appeals are initially acknowledged, each individual appeal is thoroughly re-examined and the appellant then advised in writing of the outcome of the appeal. Should the farmer not be satisfied with the outcome of the appeal, there is the option to have the case further reviewed by a more senior official. Ultimately, the appellant has the further option to appeal to the Agriculture Appeals Office.

If the farmer so wishes, my Department will arrange to have the parcel subject to the reduction inspected by an official to confirm that the Department's decision is valid, or to make any change to that decision deemed necessary. In addition, if the Department's original decision is altered, any moneys paid by the farmers involved or offset against subsequent payments will be refunded immediately to them.

These schemes are fully and partially funded by the European Union. The relevant competent authorities in each member state are obliged to ensure that the requirements of the governing EU regulations are observed and that only valid applications that fully comply with the requirements are paid. The administration of these schemes in each member state is subjected to close scrutiny by officials of the European Commission and the EU Court of Auditors to ensure that the regulatory requirements are met, and that the schemes are applied in a uniform manner across the European Union.

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