Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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229. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the latest permissible date to inform the European Commission of the national decisions made in relation to Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy reform programme 2015-20; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7356/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the new Direct Payment Regulation, there are a number of dates relating to various aspects of the new Schemes by which Member States must notify the Commission of the national arrangements under Pillar I. As there is an option for the review of certain decisions throughout the period of the Scheme, the process of notification is ongoing. The earliest notification date relevant to Ireland is 1 August 2014.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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230. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the minimum proposed activity that will be required for farmers to be eligible for payment under Pillar 1 of the Common Agricultural Policy reform programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7357/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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To participate in the Basic Payment Scheme and related schemes a person must be an ‘active farmer’ as defined in the Direct Payment Regulation. Only persons who fulfil one of the following can be considered as an ‘active farmer’ and will be eligible to receive a direct payment:

a. A ‘farmer’ is defined as a person who carries out an agricultural activity such as ‘the rearing or growing of agricultural products including harvesting, milking, breeding animals and keeping animals for farming purposes’.

b. Persons who do not engage in one or more of these activities must at a minimum maintain their land in ‘good agricultural and environmental condition’.

c. Where land can be described as an area ‘naturally kept in a state suitable for grazing or cultivation’ (marginal land), each Member State must establish a level of ‘minimum activity’ to be carried out by farmers on such land.

The Commission is obliged to lay down a framework in the Delegated Acts within which Member States will define this ‘minimum activity’. This framework remains the subject of negotiation between Member States and the EU Commission and I am not in a position to define a ‘minimum activity’ for Ireland until the relevant Delegated Acts are published.