Written answers

Thursday, 13 October 2005

Department of Agriculture and Food

Grant Payments

5:00 pm

Liam Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 140: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the progress on the application for entitlements from the National Reserve by a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny. [28560/05]

Photo of Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the single payment scheme, the person named has 26.62 entitlements and an existing single payment of €11,328.67 based on his farming activity during the reference period 2000 to 2002.

He submitted an application to the single payment national reserve but did not indicate the category under which he wished to be considered. There are four categories in the national reserve under which farmers may be considered for an allocation from the reserve, namely, categories A, B, C and D and full details in respect of each category were provided on the national reserve application form and in the help sheet which accompanied it.

From the information submitted by the person named it appears he took a decision to change from a fruit growing enterprise to growing cereals. Under Article 23 of EU Council Regulation 795/2004, a farmer shall receive an allocation from the national reserve if he participated in national programmes of reorientation of production. The only national programme of reorientation of production, which operated in Ireland, was the milk quota restructuring scheme and provisions were made for such applicants within the national reserve under category C. Since the person named did not participate in this scheme he cannot receive an allocation from the reserve under this particular category.

The person named did not indicate that he made an investment in production capacity nor did he provide evidence of any such investment. However, if he submits such details to my Department, he will be considered under category B.

Since there is no evidence that he received a holding free of charge or for a nominal amount from a farmer who retired or died by 16 May 2005 and who had leased that holding to a third party during the reference period, he cannot be considered under category A. As he is not a new entrant to farming since 31 December 2002 or during 2002 without having received a direct payment in respect of that year, he cannot be considered under category D.

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