Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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382. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department will consider re-issuing a letter to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo, regarding entitlements under the single payment scheme; if a decision will issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20094/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person named took over his brother’s herd number in 2006 but did not apply to transfer his Single Payment entitlements. As these entitlements were unused in 2006, 2007 or 2008 they were reverted to the National Reserve in 2009 for non usage.

The EU Regulations governing the Single Payment Scheme provided that payment entitlements must be used at least once in a three year period. ‘Used’ in this context means that one hectare of eligible land must have been declared in respect of each entitlement held. The Regulations further provided that any entitlements that remain unused over a three year period must revert to the National Reserve and are thereby lost to the farmer.

Given the circumstances of this case taking into account the passage of time and the failure of the parties concerned to submit a Transfer of Entitlements Application, my Department is not now in a position to review their request at this late stage almost seven years later.

The Single Payment Scheme entitlements allocated to the brother of the person named had a total value of €1,277.35. As the person named received Grassland Sheep payments in the reference years, he is eligible for an allocation of payment entitlements under the new Basic Payment Scheme. He is eligible for an allocation of 26.99 new BPS entitlements with an initial unit value of €28.35 each. When the Greening Payment is added, his total payment for 2015 would be approximately €1,114.45. Under the convergence process, this payment would increase to approximately €4,000 by 2019.

A Provisional Statement issued to the person named in February 2015 advising him of the number and value of his entitlements under the new scheme.