Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I shall put on the record the facts about the disadvantaged area payments because that is a fair question. Some farmers have been paid and some have not. I shall give the numbers. To date, €164 million has been paid to 75,000 farmers from the disadvantaged area payments scheme, DAS. This is €42 million ahead of the position in 2010 and we have worked hard to try to get payments paid more quickly. Of the 25,000 people awaiting payments, 5,000 are non-compliant with stocking density, 10,000 have been contacted about over-claims or dual claims that need clarification; 3,000 inspections are being processed and 7,000 require maps to be digitised. In those cases maps have been sent in, physically, on a piece of paper, and need to be digitised onto a computer which takes time. Sometimes there is an inconsistency between maps that needs clarification or inspection. If any payments have not come through yet under the DAS it is either because they require clarity and explanation or because there is a disqualification. We are anxious to try to clarify these points quickly and make the payments as quickly as we can.

The same applies to the AOS payments from last year, which we have already started to pay . There are mapping issues here too. For example, when applying for AOS many people have included maps that do not match the maps they submitted for their single farm payment. Something is wrong somewhere and until we get clarity we cannot make payments because when the Commission audits what we do those issues will arise. There are real reasons for any delays that exist but I assure the Deputy we are working extremely hard to get payments out as quickly as possible.

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