Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 398: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when a REPS 4 payment for a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be awarded. [12786/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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Payment issued to the person named on 23 March.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when a REPS 4 payment for a person (details supplied) in Count Mayo will be awarded. [12787/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007-13 and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before the first payments issue. The first payments for 2008 REPS 4 applications issued in the last week of January to those whose applications required no correction following the administrative checks. Further payments continue to be made as applications are cleared. Queries have arisen during the administrative checks on the plan of the person named and it is currently under further examination.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 400: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when a REPS 4 payment for a person (details supplied) will be awarded. [12788/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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REPS 4 is a measure under the current Rural Development Programme 2007-13 and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before the first payments issue. The first payments for 2008 REPS 4 applications issued in the last week of January to those whose applications required no correction following the administrative checks. Further payments continue to be made as applications are cleared. Queries have arisen during the administrative checks on the plan of the person named and it is currently under further examination.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Question 401: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when details of the proposed hardship scheme for sheep farmers will be announced. [12789/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I presume the Deputy is referring to the Uplands Sheep Payment, which I announced last week. This payment will be made to hill sheep farmers in December of this year, from the extra funds available under the National Reserve in 2009, following on from the recent CAP Health Check, which allows Ireland to fund measures that are targeted at specific sectors in need of assistance.

In reaching my decision to allocate this funding to hill sheep farmers, I recognised the difficulties and costs, including compliance costs, facing this sector. I also wanted to ensure that this aid would not create any additional administrative burden for hill sheep farmers. Subject to Commission approval, payments will commence on 1 December 2009, the first date that payments can commence under the EU Regulations. Based on the estimated National Reserve funds for 2009 and the eligible area declared by farmers in 2008, approximately 14,000 hill sheep farmers will benefit from this payment. It has also been estimated from data available for 2008, that the level of aid will be €35 per hectare. The maximum payment per farmer will be €525.

The main features of the new Uplands Sheep Payment are as follows:

Eligible applicants must have sheep recorded in the National Sheep Census for both the 2007 and 2008 calendar years.

Applicants must be eligible for the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme in 2009.

Applicants must farm and declare in 2009 mountain type grazing land.

The mountain type grazing land must have been declared on the 2008 and 2009 Single Payment/Disadvantaged Areas

The aid will be payable on mountain type grazing land up to a maximum of 15 hectares.

The rate of aid per hectare will be calculated by reference to the available National Reserve funds and the total area eligible for payment when all of the 2009 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme applications are processed.

Eligible farmers will apply for the Uplands Sheep payment when they submit their 2009 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme application form.

This measure is solely for 2009. A decision on the use of the unspent CAP funds and modulation monies from 2010 onwards, will be made when further information is available on the detailed rules that will apply to these measures. The EU Commission will shortly table its proposals for the detailed rules for the use of the unused funds and it is expected that they will be finalised in May/June of this year. It is important that these funds are used efficiently for the development of Irish agriculture. All sectors, including in particular, both hill and lowland sheep production, will be considered in this regard.