Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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286. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when payment under the beef technology scheme will issue to a farmer; the details of any penalty on their payment; the reason they were not told they were ineligible for the rotational grazing measure when the TAMS grant they received related to external fencing and not internal fencing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2062/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Full payment in respect of the 2013 Beef Technology Adoption Programme issued directly to the nominated bank account of the persons named on 24 December 2013.

The persons named also applied for the 2013 Sheep Technology Adoption Programme. In order qualify for payment participants were required to attend four Programme meetings and satisfactory complete two Tasks, chosen by the applicants, from a menu of nine Tasks. One of the two Tasks chosen by the persons named was Task 7. The Terms and Conditions of the 2013 STAP, (a copy of which was provided to the persons named with their letter of acceptance into the Programme, dated 22 April 2013) provided as follows in respect of this Task:

Task 7 (Qualifying task in one year only)

Put a rotation grazing system in place on the farm with a minimum of 4 grazing divisions per grazing group and each division must have its own water supply. Grazing divisions may be through permanent fencing or through temporary electric fencing which may be rotated around the farm and must be in place by 1 May 2013. Existing or previous participants in the Sheep Handling/Fencing TAMS Scheme are ineligible for this task.

Following validation, prior to payments being made, it was found that the persons named had participated in the Sheep Handling/Fencing TAMS Scheme. On this basis the persons named were deemed to be ineligible for payment under the 2013 Sheep Technology Adoption Programme.