Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 207: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food when the single farm payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11249/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The person named submitted an application under the single payment scheme on 12 May 2005. The ownership details of the herd number changed in December 2002. A request to transfer these entitlements to the person named was received in January 2006 and this has now been fully processed.

The person named also applied to have his entitlements consolidated under the consolidation measure of the single payment scheme. However, the processing of this application could not proceed until the transfer of the entitlements had been completed. The consolidation application has now been fully processed and payment amounting to €29,376.68 will issue shortly.

The person named also submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements from the single payments scheme national reserve under category B. That category caters for farmers who, between 1 January 2000 and 19 October 2003, made an investment in production capacity in 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. Investments can include purchase or long-term lease of land, purchase of suckler and-or ewe quota or other investments.

The position is that over 23,000 applications for an allocation of entitlements from the national reserve were received when account is taken of farmers who applied under more than one category. Processing of these applications is continuing and the intention is to make allocations to successful applicants at the earliest opportunity. My Department will be in touch with individual applicants as soon as their applications are fully processed. Formal letters setting out my Department's decision will be issued.

Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 208: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farmers who are awaiting payment under the single farm payment in each county; the average length of delay; when it is expected that payment will issue to these farmers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11250/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The supplied table sets out the number of farmers in each county whose payments under the 2005 single payment scheme had issued by 21 March 2006. The number of applications with outstanding problems, which must be solved prior to payment, is also set out.

Payments are continuing to issue to farmers as their applications are processed to completion, in accordance with the EU legislation governing the single payment scheme. Under this legislation, member states may commence payment under the single payment scheme on 1 December of the year of application, with payments being fully processed by the following 30 June. My priority in 2005, the first year of this new scheme, was to maximise the number of payments to eligible applicants by the earliest date possible of 1 December and I am satisfied that this was achieved. Since then, it has been my absolute priority to ensure that the issues holding up the remaining cases are resolved with the applicants concerned and that payments are made without undue delay. To this end, I have arranged that payments are issued on a very regular basis as soon as the problems with the outstanding cases are resolved.

It will be noted that the sum of the cases paid and those awaiting payment differs from the figures supplied in the reply to the Deputy's questions of 25 January 2006. This difference is accounted for by cases which previously had no entitlements being awarded entitlements following the processing of applications under the inheritance, force majeure and so forth measures of the single payment scheme, which were recently submitted to my Department.