Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who have had a review carried out on their eligible hectares in the past year; the number who have had their eligible hectares reduced; the number who have been notified of penalties as a result; the number of these farming 20 ha or less; the number where retrospective disallowances and penalties have been applied; the total hectarage disallowed under this review to date; the percentage of the total eligible land involved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6342/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The LPIS Review process initiated by my Department consisted on a review of all of the eligible land parcels in the LPIS database, which was declared by farmers under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme, the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme and other Direct Payment Schemes. In total, the Review covered in excess of 132,000 applicants and the land parcels declared by them as eligible for payment under one of more of the above-mentioned Schemes.

That Review is now almost complete and my Department is currently examining the applications for reviews/appeals submitted by farmers. If the outcome of the review is successful the applicants are informed and the relevant adjustment made in the payments. If they are unsuccessful, the applicants are notified of their right to submit an appeal to the Independent LPIS appeals Committee. Where there is a doubt in relation to the area deemed ineligible, my Department arranges for the area to be clarified by a ground verification visit to the holding.

The information requested by the Deputy is currently being compiled and will be made available as soon as possible. This information will cover the number of farmers who had their eligible areas reduced; the number, who had a reduction in their payment; the number of farmers, who had a reduction/penalty; those farming 20 hectares or less and the total ineligible area deducted from the declared area.

I can confirm that approximately 2,500 farmers had their reduction in their declared area applied to the 2009 to 2102 period. The total amount involved was €1 million or an average of €100 per annum. The applicants involved were cases, whose payments were reduced on the basis that it was less than 3% or 2 hectares. In such cases, provision is made in the EU Regulations that, with the exception of over-claims of 0.1 hectare or less (tolerance), payment is not made of the lands deemed ineligible. Checks were carried out in each case to ensure that the ineligible area/feature existed in each of the earlier years.

It is important to note that there are some positive outcomes of the current Review from a farmer's point of view. In the first instance I announced last week that the number of payment entitlements, which farmers will be granted under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015 will be based on the 2013 eligible land or in 2015 if it is lower. This means that farmers, who have ineligible land deducted in 2013 as part of this Review, will be protected under the new Regime as their entitlements will be based on the actual eligible land in 2013. In addition, it also means that farmers, who are contributing to the convergence process by having reductions applied to their entitlements, will not see part of the funds used to make payments on ineligible lands.