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

I thank Deputy Michael McCarthy for raising this important issue. I welcome the opportunity to clarify this issue, which is of significant concern to many people. Deputies are fully aware of the background to this issue and the necessity for the Department to carry out a complete review of the eligibility of the land parcels declared by farmers to benefit from aid payments under the single farm payment scheme and other direct aid schemes.

In total, in excess of €1.5 billion is paid annually to Irish farmers using European Union funds. The European Commission has an obligation to ensure member states manage and use the EU funding granted to them in accordance with the very restrictive provisions governing the schemes and general financial provisions. Under the Common Agricultural Policy, this is done by way of a clearance of accounts procedure. This is a formal process and the Commission and member states are obliged to adhere to the requirements laid down in the legislation. In the case of Ireland, the clearance procedure currently covers five financial years, encompassing the years from 2008 to 2012, inclusive, in the scheme. In that regard, I give an assurance that every effort is being made to ensure that Ireland's case and the position of Irish farmers are strenuously defended during the process.

All farmers are fully aware that to draw down payment under the single farm payment scheme, it is necessary to declare an eligible hectare for each payment entitlement held. Farmers who submitted an application will have been fully aware of the need to exclude from the area claimed all ineligible features such as houses, roads, rivers and forests as well as areas of scrub, ineligible bogs, etc., when submitting the annual application. Each year, my Department forwards maps, terms and conditions and covering explanatory letters to all applicants. In all of the documentation forwarded it is made very clear to farmers that they should not claim on any ineligible land or features such as houses, buildings, farmyards, lakes, bogs or scrub, etc. Given the size of farms in Ireland, all applicants who are farming the lands they declare will be fully aware of the features on their lands.

The land parcel identification system review process initiated by the Department consists of a review of all eligible land parcels in the LPIS database which were declared by farmers under the 2013 single payment scheme, disadvantaged areas scheme and other direct payment schemes. The review covers in excess of 132,000 applicants and the land parcels declared by them as eligible for payment under one of more of the above mentioned schemes. This review is now almost complete and details will be given to the Commission. The Department is currently examining the applications for reviews-appeals submitted by farmers. If the outcome of an appeal is successful, the applicant is informed and the relevant adjustment is made to the payment. If unsuccessful, applicants are notified of their right to submit an appeal to the independent appeals committee. Where there is doubt in relation to the area deemed ineligible, such as scrub, which is a particular factor of land in west Cork, the Department arranges for the area to be clarified by a ground verification visit to the holding. I believe that is very important. More than 1,000 of these visits have taken place to date.

I would like to avail of this opportunity to clarify a few matters which will be of interest and benefit farmers who find themselves in this situation. The recent decisions taken by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine ensure protection of payments to farmers under the new CAP regime. In terms of eligible land, a decision was made to use 2013, or 2015 if lower, for the calculation of a number of new payment entitlements under the regime. This means that the number of entitlements allocated to farmers should correspond to the number of eligible hectares on the holding. In addition, the total value of the new entitlements allocated to farmers in 2015 will be based on the total number of entitlements, rather than payments, owned by farmers in 2014.

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