Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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138. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 283 of 10 March 2014, the specific criteria used by his Department's inspectors in making a percentage reduction on a land parcel, where it is determined that parts of the said parcel are not subject to an agricultural activity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12460/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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EU Regulations governing the Direct Payments Scheme and other area-based schemes require my Department to ensure that all eligibility requirements are complied with. In conducting inspections my Department's officers must ensure that in the first instance the land declared for aid is eligible and secondly that an agricultural activity is being carried out on all of this land.

Where an inspecting officer identifies that part(s) of a parcel is not subject to an agricultural activity, the officer will exclude such areas as being ineligible. These areas can include areas under buildings, cattle pens, concreted and gravel areas, areas of farm roadways, areas that are fenced to exclude animals and areas that are inaccessible. Inaccessible areas can include areas that animals cannot access, areas that are too wet which animals chose not to enter and areas under dense scrub.

Where areas are identified, which animals can and do access and which have grazable ground cover present, but the total area is not available for grazing due to outcropping rock, areas of scattered scrub, etc., the inspecting officer is required to apply a percentage reduction to exclude the area not available for grazing, where it is not practical to measure each individual area involved.