Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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127. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the position regarding a single farm payment in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly where it is estimated that the person will receive 10% less on 11.72 hectares than on his current SFP where on 4.42 hectares the person received €755.68 with a total value of €3340.11; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26454/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Under the Single Payment Scheme the value of the entitlements was allocated on the basis of agricultural activity during the Reference Period of 2000 to 2002, and largely reflected the productive capacity of each farm during that period and gave rise to wide variations in the unit value of entitlements held by individual farmers.

It is no longer possible to justify the significant differences in the unit value of entitlements held by farmers based on the use of historical references. The model of convergence that will be applied in Ireland, while initially retaining the link with current payments under the Single Payment Scheme, gradually moves all farmers towards a national average value. The purpose of this model is to achieve a phased redistribution of payments between those who currently hold high value entitlements and those who hold low value entitlements.

The person named declared 11.72 hectares in 2013 and provided he retains that land in 2015, he will be allocated 11.72 new Basic Payment Scheme entitlements in 2015. The value of these entitlements will be based on a percentage of the value of Single Payment Scheme entitlements owned by him in 2014. In addition to the entitlements value, there will be a Greening payment.

While it will not be possible until 2015 to say definitively how much the payment per hectare will be, it is estimated that the person named will be eligible in 2015 to receive a total payment per hectare that will be slightly above the national average value. There will be a minor reduction by way of convergence each year thereafter.