Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 605: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the position in relation to a person (details supplied) in County Wicklow who was penalised in 2006 by his Department and lost €2,000 on the single farm payment because of new maps which showed their land at 10 acres less than their folio which showed their land at 190 acres in view of the fact that they operated on the basis of the information from the land registry; the reason they were penalised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22641/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Under the relevant EU legislation, in order to draw down full payment in respect of Single Payment Entitlements, an applicant must declare an 'eligible hectare' to accompany each entitlement; an 'eligible hectare' is land that is used for an agricultural activity i.e. land used to grow cereals, etc, grass for silage, grazing or hay, or land that is in set-aside — the provisions of the Scheme prohibit payment on afforested land. The person named has 24.14 Single Payment entitlements.

While an application under the 2006 Single Payment Scheme was received from the person named on 9 May 2006, only 22.72 eligible hectares were declared, the remainder of the lands declared being declared as Forestry. As part of the control procedures under EU legislation governing the Single Payment Scheme, the applicant was selected for an inspection, which took place on 27 October 2006, at which it was found that there was a total of 22.52 hectares eligible under the 2006 Single Payment Scheme. The payment due, €7,374.96, issued to the person named on 15 January 2007.