Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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543. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when REP scheme 4 payments will be made to farmers who have had their payments cleared for payment by his Department; the reason for the delay in issuing payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22547/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the EU Regulations governing all area-based payment schemes, a comprehensive administrative check of all applications, including cross-checks with the Land Parcel Identification System, must be completed before any REPS payment can issue.

Successive EU audits have made it absolutely clear that compliance with the Regulations must be strictly adhered to and that all administrative checks must be passed and eligibility conditions met before payment issues. As a result, my Department is obliged to ensure that individual payments will not issue until all aspects of a farmer’s application are in order, all outstanding documentation provided and all queries resolved. In most instances where payments are outstanding there remains an outstanding query on the application. These queries are being resolved on an ongoing basis and officials in my Department will have contacted the applicants concerned with the intention of issuing payment as quickly as possible. I am, of course, conscious of the difficulties facing the farming community at present and I am prioritising the processing of outstanding payments, including REPS, and to ensure that queries are resolved and payments expedited.

To date approximately 29,200 of the remaining 30,200 REPS 4 participants have been paid a total of €167m in respect of the 2012 application period. An additional €1m will issue this week to a further 200 REPS 4 farmers.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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544. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a REP scheme 4 payment will issue to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22548/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person named commenced REPS 4 in June 2008 and received payments for the first four years of their contract.

REPS 4 is a measure under the current 2007-13 Rural Development Programme and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before any payments can issue. These checks have been completed in this case and the 2012 75% payment amounting to €3,673.81 issued for payment on 8 May 2013. The remaining 2012 25% balancing payment will issue shortly.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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545. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a REP scheme 4 payment will issue to a person (details supplied) in County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22549/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person named commenced REPS 4 in March 2008 and received payments for the first four years of their contract.

REPS 4 is a measure under the current 2007-13 Rural Development Programme and is subject to EU Regulations which require detailed administrative checks on all applications to be completed before any payments can issue. Following the administrative checks an issue was discovered in relation to Supplementary Measure 10 (Mixed Grazing) which has resulted in the need for further clarification. A letter issued to the person named dated 21 February 2013. As soon as officials in my Department receive a satisfactory response to this letter the application will be processed further with the intention of an early resolution and payment in respect of 2012.