Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payments of grants will issue to those who have had satellite inspections carried out on their farms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55537/12]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with EU legislation governing the payment of area based aid, in particular, Council Regulation 73/2009 and Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1122/2009, it is necessary for Member States to carry out on-the-spot land eligibility inspections on at least 5% of all farmers submitting a single payment scheme application. In carrying out these land eligibility inspections, Member States may make use of satellite imagery. My Department makes use of such imagery to carry out a proportion of land eligibility inspections.

When the available images do not permit a satisfactory verification of the land use or area of a parcel(s) applied for by an applicant, perhaps due to cloud cover, it is an EU requirement that a ground inspection must take place. These inspections are generally limited to verifying the area of the particular parcel(s) where the position is unclear from the imagery available (unless 80% or more of the area was unclear). The results obtained are used, in combination with the satisfactory satellite imagery, to finalise the eligibility inspection of the entire areas declared.

The cases concerned are then processed to finality as quickly as possible, thereby allowing the payments concerned to issue without undue delay.