Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I can confirm that rough grazing is eligible for the single farm payment scheme and other area-based schemes such as the disadvantaged areas scheme and the grassland sheep scheme. The terms and conditions of the single payment scheme advise applicants, inter alia, that if they are to draw down full payments in respect of their single payment scheme entitlements, an eligible hectare must be declared in respect of each entitlement. In this context, an eligible area is land that is used for an agricultural activity and includes land used to grow cereals, oilseeds, short rotation coppice, miscanthus, protein crops, sugar beet, maize, fodder beet, turnips, kale and grass for silage, hay or grazing. Eligible land is all land that is subject to agricultural activity by an applicant. It may be used for arable crops, hay, silage or grazing by farm animals, for example, or the applicant may choose to top it on an annual basis.

Land that was declared on a 2008 single payment scheme application, gave rise to a payment and was subsequently afforested can be eligible in certain circumstances. If an applicant is not producing crops or animals from the land, he or she can choose to top it in order to maintain it in good agricultural and environmental condition, as required under the scheme. In the case of hill or mountain land or marginal land, or other rough grazing which cannot be mechanically topped, if the applicant wishes to claim the land under the area-based schemes, the only way to maintain it in good agricultural and environmental condition is to graze it with sufficient cattle or sheep. If scattered scrub is present in a land parcel, farmers are required to make a percentage reduction in the claimed area to allow for the ineligible area.

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