Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 313: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if she will review the case of an individual (details supplied); the possibility of providing an allocation to the individual from the national reserve; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23048/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The person named has been notified that the circumstances outlined by him did not satisfy the criteria for force majeure-exceptional circumstances under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EC) No.1782/2003. Following this decision, the person named submitted an appeal to the independent single payment appeals committee on 1 June 2005. A full review of the circumstances of the case will be carried out by the independent single payment appeals committee and the person named will be notified shortly of the outcome.

The person named also submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements from the single payment scheme national reserve under category C, which caters for farmers who, between 1 January 2000 and 19 October 2003, sold their milk quota into the milk quota restructuring scheme and converted their enterprise to a farming sector for which a direct payment under livestock premia and/or arable aid schemes would have been payable during the reference period 2000 to 2002.

In excess of 17,300 applications have been received under the national reserve at the Department's office in Castlebar and are being processed at present. In view of the number of applications received and the documentation submitted, it will be some time before a decision is reached on whether or not the person named is entitled to an allocation from the reserve. He will, of course, be notified of his eligibility or otherwise as soon as all applications are processed.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 314: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the award of special beef premium 2004 for a person (details supplied) in County Wexford was affected; if this person can appeal this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23082/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 315: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the award of special beef premium 2004 for a person (details supplied) in County Wexford was affected; if this person can appeal this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23083/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 316: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the award of extensification premium 2004 for a person (details supplied) in County Wexford was affected; if this person can appeal this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23084/05]

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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Question 317: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the reason the award of slaughter premium 2004 for a person (details supplied) in County Wexford was affected; if this person can appeal this decision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23085/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 314 to 317, inclusive, together.

The person named included a parcel of land on his 2004 area aid application that was also claimed by another herd owner. Both applicants were contacted and, as the person named did not have entitlement to the land, a penalty of between 3% and 20% was assigned to him and the matter was resolved in favour of the other applicant. The 2004 area aid application for the person named was fully processed with a found forage area of 13.21 hectares and an adjusted forage area, after penalty, of 9.03 hectares.

The person named submitted two applications, in respect of a total of 26 animals, under the 2004 special beef premium scheme. The first application, in respect of 16 animals, was received on 8 March 2004 and the second application, in respect of ten animals, was received on 6 December 2004.

Following computer validation, ten of the animals included on the first application were found to be non-CMMS compliant in that they were not recorded, as required under the terms and conditions of the scheme, as being in the herd of the person named on the date of application. The person named was advised in writing of these findings and also of the appropriate regulatory penalty, namely, that the animals would not be paid premium and, due to the integrated of the bovine schemes, a reduction penalty would apply across all the bovine schemes, including the slaughter premium scheme. The person named was advised of the right of appeal. To date, however, no such appeal has been received.

With regard to the extensification premium, the position is that, under EU regulations, the premium is only payable on animals that have already qualified for special beef premium and/or suckler cow premium on the holding in question. Since the person named does not qualify for payment of the 2004 special beef premium for the reason stated above, he cannot be considered for payment of 2004 extensification premium.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 318: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position regarding entitlement from the 2005 national reserve for a person (details supplied) in County Limerick. [23086/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The person named has been notified that the circumstances outlined by him did not satisfy the criteria for force majeure-exceptional circumstances under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1782/2003. Following this decision, the person named submitted an appeal to the independent single payment appeals committee on 1 June 2005. A full review of the circumstances of the case will be carried out by the independent single payment appeals committee and the person named will be notified shortly of the outcome.

The person named also submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements from the single payment scheme national reserve under category C, which caters for farmers who, between 1 January 2000 and 19 October 2003, sold their milk quota into the milk quota restructuring scheme and converted their enterprise to a farming sector for which a direct payment under livestock premia and/or arable aid schemes would have been payable during the reference period 2000 to 2002.

In excess of 17,300 applications have been received under the national reserve at the Department's office in Castlebar and are being processed at present. In view of the number of applications received and the documentation submitted, it will be some time before a decision is reached on whether the person named is entitled to an allocation from the reserve. He will, of course, be notified of his eligibility or otherwise as soon as all applications are processed.

Dan Neville (Limerick West, Fine Gael)
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Question 319: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the position regarding his decision in connection with the [i]force majeure[/i] consideration of single farm payment for a person (details supplied) in County Limerick. [23088/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The person named, having been notified that the circumstances outlined by him did not satisfy the criteria for force majeure-exceptional circumstances under Article 40 of Council Regulation (EC) No.1782/2003, submitted an appeal to the independent single payment appeals committee. Following a full examination of the circumstances outlined in the appeal, the independent single payment appeals committee made a recommendation and a letter issued to the person named on 27 June 2005. The findings of the appeals committee were that the original decision taken by my Department should be upheld.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 320: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the situation in respect of payment on three animals for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo. [23089/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The person named submitted an application in respect of three animals under the 2004 special beef premium scheme on 5 October 2004.

Following computer validation, it was found that the three animals in question had been sold prior to the end of the regulatory two-month retention period. Under the terms and conditions of the 2004 special beef premium scheme, it was appropriate that these animals be rejected, that is, they would not be paid premium and a reduction penalty would apply to the premium payments due in respect of the other bovine applications lodged by the person named. In correspondence, the person named acknowledged that special beef premium could not be paid on the animals but argued that the proposed penalty should not be applied. However, following consideration of the case my Department agreed that the proposed penalty, applicable to the other applications, would not apply because medical evidence was supplied which confirmed that the person named was ill at the time of the sale of the animals.

In the written reply to an earlier question by the Deputy on this case, it was inadvertently indicated that payment would issue in respect of those animals which were not kept for the retention period. However, as the animals were not retained for the entire two-month regulatory retention period, payment cannot issue. The discretion in a case such as this extends only to the regulatory penalty provided for. In this case, it was accepted, on the basis of the evidence provided by the person named, that no penalty should be applied on the other animals claimed.