John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 643: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if an application under [i]force majeure[/i] in the name of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny will be reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1276/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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An application for consideration under the force majeure or exceptional circumstances measure of the single payment regulations was submitted by the person named 6 February 2004. The person named has been notified that the circumstances outlined by him do not satisfy the criteria for force majeure or exceptional circumstances under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003. The person named has been advised that he may appeal this decision to the independent single payment appeals committee who will carry out a full review of the circumstances outlined.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 644: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers who are still awaiting notification of their entitlements under the single farm payment; if she will provide a breakdown of these figures on a county basis and the figures for those still awaiting a decision on their [i]force majeure[/i] application; if these farmers will still be eligible to submit [i]force majeure[/i] applications, appeals and applications under the national reserve; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1288/05]

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 659: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers still awaiting initial formal notification of their entitlement under the single farm payment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1574/05]

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 660: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers still awaiting a decision on their [i]force majeure[/i] application; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1575/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 644, 659 and 660 together.

To date 131,806 farmers have received notification of their provisional single farm payment entitlement. This leaves a balance of 9,611 farmers who have not yet been notified. These farmers are awaiting processing of applications under various measures of the single payment regulations such as force majeure, new entrant and inheritance cases. The break down per county of these 9,611 cases is as follows:

A total of 1,545 farmers who submitted applications in the first application period are awaiting a decision on their force majeure application. The large majority of these relate to cases where my Department sought additional information in support of the application. In excess of 2,500 applications received in the second application period for force majeure are being processed. However, the applicants in the second application period have generally already been notified of their provisional single payment entitlements.

All farmers who have not yet received a notification of their single payment entitlements will have a period of four weeks, following receipt of that notification, to request a review of their entitlements and will have a right to appeal to the independent single payment appeals committee if dissatisfied with the outcome of that review. Farmers who wished to submit an application under the force majeure or exceptional circumstances measure or to apply to the single payment national reserve could have done so on the basis of being eligible under one or more of the categories specified. It was therefore not necessary to have received a notification of entitlements prior to submitting an application under either of these measures.

Denis Naughten (Longford-Roscommon, Fine Gael)
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Question 645: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her plans to provide for oral hearings under the decision process for the allocation of the national reserve; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1289/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There are no plans to provide for oral hearings under the decision process for the allocation of entitlements from the single payment national reserve. Applicants who are not happy with my Department's decisions on the national reserve may seek to have the decisions reviewed within the Department and if unhappy with the outcome of the review, they may appeal to the single payment appeals committee, which operates under the independent chairmanship of Mr. John Duggan. The appeals committee has already dealt satisfactorily with appeals on decisions under force majeure and I have no doubt it will also deal effectively with any appeals received on decisions made in relation to the 2005 single payment national reserve.