Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide in tabular form, details of the number of hectares applied for under the single payment scheme in each year since 2006; the number of hectares deemed ineligible each year; the number of farmers who applied each year; the number who had land declared ineligible each year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39538/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Payments under the Single Payment Scheme may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the Scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels available to them. Details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on the Department's Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS). Details of the use and area claimed for each of some 900,000 eligible land parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by the Department.

While the rules governing land eligibility and penalties to be applied are defined in EU Regulations (which, for ease of reference, are detailed in the Scheme Terms and Conditions booklet that issues annually to all applicants), it is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that the details in each year's application are accurate. Therefore, applicants are advised of the need to confirm their right to declare such parcels and to make the appropriate deductions (e.g. in respect of houses, farm buildings, roadways, scrub, etc.) to the area of eligible parcels, as necessary.

The information requested (detailed by area rather than farmers) is set out in the table below and is based on the IACS return, which is submitted to the EU Commission under the provisions of the governing EU Regulations on an annual basis. The ineligible land is established on foot of On-the-Spot eligibility inspections, Remote Sensing eligibility inspections and administrative checks (e.g. dual-claims) undertaken by my Department.