Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 164: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the number of farmers in Roscommon and Leitrim still awaiting payment of their advance on the single farm payment and disadvantaged areas payment; the reason for the delay and when the delay will be resolved. [43490/10]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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The details sought by the Deputy are contained in the tabular statement below.

Under the provisions of the governing EU Regulations, payments under the Single Farm Payment may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the Scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels available to them; details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), my Department's computer-based land parcel tracking system. Details of the use and area claimed for each of some one million parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by my Department.

In Ireland, the vast majority of Scheme applicants have been making sufficient deductions from their claims to take account of ineligible areas in that they reduced the area claimed. However, in many cases as no mapping evidence supporting these deductions was provided, the ineligible features were not, therefore, recorded onto LPIS. As LPIS underpins all the area-based payments, worth in excess of €1.8 billion annually, it is crucial that it accurately reflects the true position on the ground, particularly given the audit scrutiny that this Scheme attracts not just in Ireland but also in all Member States. To this end, the initiative I took earlier this year in urging all farmers to map out ineligible areas was crucial and, given the overwhelming response, absolutely vital.

I can confirm that the balancing payments under the Single Payment Scheme are on target to begin issuing as and from 1 December. In addition to issuing balancing payments to those farmers whose applications are fully processed and whose maps are fully digitised, payments will also issue to those farmers where some or all of their maps are still to be digitised, with the payment being calculated on the basis of the confirmed eligible land. Because of this decision, which I made following consultation with the EU Commission, many farmers, whose balancing payments would otherwise have been delayed until their digitising is complete, will now receive payment. I estimate that the net effect will be additional payments worth in excess of €100 million issuing in the early days of December.

I am determined that this momentum will be maintained and that the maximum numbers of farmers will receive their full payments as the earliest possible date. At the same time, I must continue to emphasise the absolute urgency in getting the mapping system fully accurate and up-to-date to protect Irish direct payments.