Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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562. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide in tabular form the number of farmers who have had penalties imposed on their payments by his Department for failure to cut rushes in 2012 and to date in 2013; if his Department has taken into consideration the water logging of the affected land and its impact on the farmers ability to access the land with machinery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23005/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department, in the context of delivering the single payment schemes, disadvantaged areas scheme and other area related schemes, is required to carry out a programme of annual inspections. This inspection regime covers both the eligibility of land declared to drawn down payments and also cross compliance aspects, to ensure adherence with EU regulatory requirements in the areas of public, animal and plant health, environment and animal welfare.

In order to be eligible under the single payment scheme and other area based schemes, an applicant must ensure that all agricultural land is maintained in good agricultural and environmental condition, GAEC. Issues relating to control of rushes must, therefore, be seen in this overall context. Farmers can keep grassland in GAEC by conducting an agricultural activity on it, such as grazing, harvesting forage crops, or by topping. Grasslands continue to be eligible where it is evident that the stocking rate on the land is sufficient and, for example, keeps rushes under control and avoids their proliferation. In such situations, the reality is there may not be a necessity to cut rushes. However, where a farmer cuts rushes as part of management practice, with the exception of certain designated lands, there are no restrictions on when this is done, enabling the task to be carried out at any time throughout the year once conditions are suitable.

I am acutely aware of the weather related difficulties being experienced by farmers and of their concern in respect of their ability to meet the various compliance requirements. When conducting inspections, my Department’s personnel take prevailing weather conditions into account. For example, where the practice is to cut rushes and it has not been possible to top them in the current year, inspectors will take a broader assessment including whether there is evidence that they have been cut in previous years.

Where land is deemed ineligible, this, in the main, is a result of the inclusion of ineligible areas or features and where it is not being used for an agricultural purpose. In cases where land with rushes is rejected, it will be seen that this is due to the broader issue of insufficient agricultural activity being undertaken on it to keep it in GAEC. My Department therefore does not maintain records specifically on the presence of rushes since the issue has to be seen in the broader context.