John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 387: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food if the year 2002 will be excluded from the benchmarking years for the single payment scheme (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13154/06]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The current owner of the herd number quoted applied under the force majeure measure of the single payment scheme on 6 February 2004. My Department, having examined the circumstances of the case, deemed that the applicant did not satisfy the criteria of Article 40 of Council Regulation EC No. 1782/2003, determining force majeure-exceptional circumstances.

The current owner of the herd number appealed this decision on 19 September 2005 to the single payment appeals committee which recommended that the decision of my Department should be upheld. The finding was that force majeure on the grounds of ill-health during 2002 could only have been applied to the previous owner, now deceased, and not to the inheritee.

If the current owner of the herd number is dissatisfied with the decision of my Department, he may wish to refer his case to the Office of the Ombudsman, 18 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2.