Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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93. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason farmers were written to recently for historic over-declarations of land under the disadvantaged area scheme and single farm payment amount to nationally of an overpayment of €1.4m; the reason these discrepancies were not detected earlier by the mapping system of his Department; the reason maps were not issued with these demands showing the alleged overclaims; if the farmers have the right to appeal this first informally; then to the formal appeals office of his Department and then to the Ombudsman; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39536/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be fully aware of the importance of payments made under the Single Payment Scheme, the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme and other Direct Payment Schemes to the annual income of Irish farmers. My Department is bound, under EU Regulations, to maintain the accuracy the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), which underpins the processing of applications under these Schemes as well as REPS and AEOS.

At the start of each year, my Department issues colour maps of all land parcels declared by farmers in the previous year together with a covering letter. In that letter, farmers are reminded to examine each map carefully and to identify and exclude from their application all ineligible features such as buildings, farmyards, scrub, roadways, forests, lakes etc. included in the land parcels. There is, therefore, an onus on all farmers to ensure that the area of land declared by them as eligible for payment under the Direct Payment Schemes is accurate. They are also given the means to do so by making the ortho-photos available to them on an annual basis. These requirements are also made clear in the Terms and Conditions of the Schemes, which accompanies the pre-printed application form issued to all farmers at the commencement of the application period each year. In view of the size and structure of farm enterprises in Ireland, farmers are fully aware of all of the non-eligible areas of their holdings.

In addition to any changes submitted by farmers, in order to insure the integrity of the LPIS, my Department continuously reviews the eligibility of lands claimed by farmers for the Single Payment Scheme and other Direct Payment Schemes.

In line with this position, all lands claimed under Direct Payment Schemes in respect of the 2009 – 2012 scheme years are currently subject to ongoing review for eligibility purposes. As a result of this phase of this review, any payments made to farmers in respect of claimed areas, which were found to be ineligible, must be reimbursed. In such circumstances farmers were advised they could either refund the over-payment directly to my Department or the overpayment could be recouped from their next payment(s) due from my Department. Such reviews can only be undertaken when up-to-date imagery becomes available to my Department. During the cross-checks undertaken it is necessary to verify that the ineligible feature (e.g. a house) was in existence in the years when over-claims of eligible areas are established.

I can confirm that farmers were issued with maps of the re-digitised land parcel and have the right to appeal the determination made by my Department. In that regard, if farmers are not satisfied with the determination made in their case, my intention is to introduce a robust and comprehensive appeal process. In the first instance, applicants will be entitled to have their case reviewed by submitting their appeal on the form provided by my Department. If they are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, they can appeal their case to the Independent Land Eligibility Appeals Committee. This Committee with consist of an independent Chairman and appeal officers from the Agriculture Appeals Office. I can also confirm that my Department has processed the appeals received from farmers following the recent issue of over-payment letters. In many cases, the original determination has been over-turned on the basis of the additional information provided by successful appellants.