Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be aware that in excess of €1.7 billion is paid annually to farmers in Ireland under the various area-based schemes including the single farm payment and disadvantaged areas scheme. Payments under these schemes may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels available to them. Details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on the Department's land parcel identification system. Details of the use and area claimed for each of the 1 million parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by our Department.

Commonage lands form an important part of the farming enterprises of many farmers, particularly along the west coast. They also form an important part of the local environment from the point of view of bio-diversity, wildlife, amenities and economic returns like tourism. Over 16,000 farmers claim in excess of 300,000 hectares of commonage as part of their land to draw down direct payments administered by the Department.

As part of the eligibility verification process, eligibility checks, including checks on commonages, must be carried out on at least 5% of applications. These checks are carried out to verify that the actual area claimed in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the farmer and to ensure that any ineligible land or features are not included for aid purposes. In respect of each hectare declared, the eligible land excludes any area under roads, paths, buildings, farmyards, woods, scrub, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, sand, areas of bare rock, boglands unfit for grazing, sand pits, areas used for quarrying, inaccessible areas and areas used as sports fields, golf courses and pitch and putt courses. The list is endless. Furthermore, there must be evidence of sufficient agricultural activity being conducted throughout the parcel. Unused or fenced-off parts of a parcel may be ineligible.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

Commonages inspected in 2013 are made up of those declared by farmers and are selected as part of the risk assessment process operated by the Department. In total, 83 commonage parcels in Galway were selected for inspection and the work on these inspections is ongoing. I will, however, forward directly to the Deputy the requested details of the commonage parcels where the inspection has been completed.

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