Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if new entrants to farming are entitled to claim the disadvantaged area scheme payment and join the REP scheme and agri environment options scheme, if open, from the year of entry into farming; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39955/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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To be eligible for payment under the 2012 Disadvantaged Areas Scheme (DAS) an applicant must in his/her own right:

- Be a person aged 18 years or over.

- Hold a valid Herd Number issued by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

- Occupy and farm in his/her own right and at his/her own risk a minimum of 3 hectares of forage land, situated in an area within the State designated as a Disadvantaged Area by the Minister and classified as Less Severely Handicapped Lowland or as a Coastal Area with Specific Handicaps or as More Severely Handicapped Lowland or as Mountain Type Grazing.

- Submit a valid 2012 Single Payment Scheme application form.

- Undertake to farm and manage the land applied on in 2012, for the full calendar year.

- Undertake to remain in farming in a Disadvantaged Area for 5 years from the date of the first payment of a Disadvantaged Areas Scheme payment.

- Comply with Cross Compliance requirements set down in EU legislation (Directives and Regulations) on the environment, food safety, animal health and welfare, and plant health and must maintain the farm in good agricultural and environmental condition (GAEC).

- Have a holding that meets the minimum stocking levels.

- In relation to any mountain commonage that is farmed, be a participant under REPS/AEOS or any National Scheme that may be in place or be compliant with the relevant Commonage Framework Plan.

- Co-operate fully with Department staff, or Agents, in relation to any inspection or any request for documentation.

- No payment shall be made in favour of beneficiaries for whom it is established that they artificially created the conditions required for obtaining such payments with a view to obtaining an advantage contrary to the objectives of that support scheme.

I can confirm that new entrants to the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme are catered for annually, subject to the above criteria. Agri-environment schemes to date have facilitated applications from all registered farmers. I do not envisage any change in the future in this respect.