Written answers

Thursday, 13 November 2014

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Agriculture Schemes Administration

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

88. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if additional staffing resources will be made available by his Department to process single farm payment and disadvantaged areas scheme applications that were selected for remote sensing eligibility inspections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43601/14]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

EU Regulations governing the administration of the Single Farm Payment/Disadvantaged Areas Schemes, and other area based schemes, require that full and comprehensive administrative eligibility checks, including in some cases either Ground or Remote Sensing (satellite) inspections, be completed before any payments issue. Eligibility checks are required to ensure that the actual area claimed in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the applicant, that there are no dual claims of land and that ineligible land or features are not included for aid purposes. Both the administrative and inspection checks ensure that the Land Parcel Identification System, underpinning the direct aid payments worth in excess of €1.5bn annually, is accurately maintained. In addition, these checks are required to protect the annual drawdown of the EU funds and to avoid disallowances.

My Department is required to carry out an annual round of inspections, both in the field and by means of Remote Sensing, to ensure the eligibility of land declared to draw down payments. The basis of these inspections is governed by EU legislation and there are minimum numbers that must be conducted each year.

Land eligibility checks must be carried out on at least 5% of applicants. In response to concerns about the impact of on-the-ground inspections on farmers, 6,715 cases or some 85% of the required 2014 inspections are initially being carried out without the need for a farm visit as the information needed is acquired using the technique of remote sensing via satellite.

The EU Regulations governing Remote Sensing inspections also require that where it is not possible to make an accurate determination on the eligibility of a parcel or parcels of land by means of an assessment of the available satellite imagery, a field inspection must be undertaken to verify the eligibility of the land.

To date inspection results have been received and processed for 5,762 of the 6,715 cases selected for a remote sensing inspection. My Department continues, on a daily basis, to process outstanding inspection cases to finalisation with the intention of issuing any payments due as soon as possible.

In relation to the issue of additional staffing resources, my Department continuously reviews staffing resource requirements and, where available and deemed necessary to meet a specific need, resources are re-deployed to meet such a need.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.