Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 535: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the position regarding single farm payment and area aid in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath and if he will expedite the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39085/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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An application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme was received from the person named on 12 May 2010. My Department identified an over-claim error on a number of land parcels declared by the applicant. A response has now been received from the herd owner in relation to these over-claims. Further re-digitisation is now required to ensure compliance with the relevant EU Regulations; immediately this process is complete, provided no further errors are identified, payment due will issue to the person named.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 536: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the position regarding area aid and single farm payment in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath and if he will expedite the matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39086/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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An application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 12 May 2010. The person named received advance payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme on 21 September and under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October, in both cases on the basis of the land cleared at that stage. A number of the land parcels declared by the person named require re-digitisation in order to remove ineligible features (in one instance, a building) and, immediately this is completed, the application will be processed with a view to further payments issuing shortly thereafter, provided no further issues have been highlighted.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 537: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the steps he will take to ensure that a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be paid the remainder of their single farm payment which is being held up under the guise of digitisation; if the remaining payment will issue as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39087/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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An application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 13 May 2010. The person named received advance payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme on 21 September and under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October, in both cases on the basis of the land cleared at that stage. A number of the land parcels declared by the person named require re-digitisation in order to remove ineligible features (including a number of buildings) and, immediately this is completed, the application will be processed with a view to further payments issuing shortly thereafter, provided no further issues have been highlighted.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 538: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the steps he will take to ensure that a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will be paid the remainder of their farm payment as same is being held up under the guise of digitisation; if the remaining payment will issue as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39088/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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An application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme was received from the person named on 15 April 2010. The person named received advance payments under the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme on 21 September and under the Single Payment Scheme on 18 October, in both cases on the basis of the land cleared at that stage. A number of the land parcels declared by the person named require re-digitisation in order to remove ineligible features (buildings, farmyard, roadway) and, immediately this is completed, the application will be processed with a view to further payments issuing shortly thereafter, provided no further issues have been highlighted.

Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 539: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the steps he will take to ensure that the single farm payment which is due in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Westmeath will issue as a matter of urgency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39089/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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An application under the 2010 Single Payment Scheme was received from the person named on 13 April 2010. A number of parcels listed by the person named on the application required re-digitisation; this process is now complete and the payment due will issue to the person named shortly.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 540: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the reason for the delay in the digitisation of maps; the stage the process is now at; the number of farm payments being withheld at present due to these delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39103/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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My Department has received over 123,000 applications for the Single Payment Scheme and 102,000 for the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme. It is expected that when processing is completed over 70,000 of these will require digitising to be carried out on some or all of the land parcels the applicant has submitted, compared to an average of 22,000 in previous years. As a result, my Department has facilitated payment to cases on all digitised land, provided that there are no other errors. To date, over 110,000 applicants have received a Single Farm Payment, as well as 88,000 applicants under the Disadvantaged Area Payments Scheme.

A total of 92,652 applicants have received their full 50% advance under the Single Payment Scheme, while a further 17,337 have received a partial payment. Of the remaining unpaid applicants, 773 have received no payment as yet due to un-digitised land, and these are prioritised by my Department.

Similarly, in the Disadvantaged Area Scheme 58,751 farmers have received full payment, with a further 29,302 farmers receiving a part-payment. Some 2,610 applications remain where all of the land declared requires re-digitising. Payment will be made to these applicants when re-digitising is completed and all errors are cleared provided they meet the minimum stocking density of 0.15 livestock units per hectare. In the past many of these cases were not eligible for payment, as they did not meet the stocking density requirement.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 541: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when a REP scheme 4 payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39140/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Regulations governing REPS 4 and other area-based schemes provide that payments issue in two instalments. The first instalment of 75% may be paid once all administrative checks on all applications, as well as cross-checks against areas declared on Single Payment Scheme applications, have been completed. This process is under way and while my objective is to make all payments as soon as possible, the checks are likely to take several more weeks to complete. The balancing payment of 25% can issue once all on-the-spot inspections for the year have taken place. The programme of inspections is well advanced at this stage.