Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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904. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who were paid the single farm payment in each county in 2012 or 2013, whichever year has the most up-to-date data available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13848/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Payments under the 2013 Single Payment Scheme begin issuing, on target, on 16 October. To date payments worth nearly €1.2 billion have issued to 122,659 applicants. An additional 631 applicants remain to be paid.

All of those who have yet to be paid have been contacted by Department in relation to various queries which must be resolved prior to payment being issued.

Payments continue to issue on a weekly basis, as individual cases are confirmed eligible for payment.

Successive EU audits have made it clear that payments should not issue under Area Based schemes, including Single Payment Scheme, until all queries associated with an application are resolved.

The payment position, on a county basis, is as outlined below.

2013 Single Payment Scheme