Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Question 96: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the way the €7 million allocation to sheep farmers from the single farm payment national reserve will be allocated to the 14,000 farmers set to benefit from the funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26073/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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In recognition of the difficulties and costs, including compliance costs, facing the sheep sector, I decided that unused funds from the Single Payment National Reserve would be paid to hill sheep farmers in 2009 in the form of an Uplands Sheep Payment, as a means of ensuring that Irish sheep farmers could benefit immediately from these funds in 2009.

During the negotiations on the CAP Health Check proposals, I was one of the first Ministers to press for the use of unspent funds from national Single Payment Scheme ceilings to fund measures targeted at specific sectors in need of assistance. I am pleased to have introduced a payment that will fully and efficiently utilise all of the available funds in 2009. The outcome of the Health Check negotiations have been very positive for Ireland, and have once again shown the importance of EU support for Irish agriculture.

My objective in designing the Uplands Sheep payment was to ensure that it was simple and low cost to administer and created no additional administrative burden for farmers. The main features of the new Uplands Sheep Payment are as follows: (i) Eligible applicants must have sheep recorded in the National Sheep Census for both the 2007 and 2008 calendar years. (ii) Applicants must be eligible for the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme in 2009. (iii) Applicants must farm and declare in 2009 mountain type grazing land. (iv) The mountain type grazing land must have been declared on the 2008 and 2009 Single Payment/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme application forms. (v) The aid will be payable on mountain type grazing land up to a maximum of 15 hectares. (vi) 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. (vii) Eligible farmers will apply for the Uplands Sheep payment when they submit their 2009 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme application form.

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 of approximately €7 million and the eligible area declared by farmers in 2008, approximately 14,000 hill sheep farmers will benefit from the 2009 payment. Based on the data available for 2008, it is estimated that the level of aid will be €35 per hectare and a maximum payment of €525 per farmer.

I must emphasise, however, that the measure is for 2009 alone. A decision on the use of unspent CAP funds and modulation monies from 2010 onwards will be made when further information is available on the detailed EU rules that will apply to these measures. I expect that the Commission will shortly table its proposals for the detailed rules for the use of the unused funds. It is particularly important that these funds are used efficiently for the development of Irish agriculture. All sectors, including both hill and lowland sheep production, will be considered in this regard.