Written answers
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine
Agriculture Schemes Eligibility
Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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103. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if it was a condition of the 2012, 2013 or 2014 disadvantaged areas schemes and the single farm payment scheme that hill land owned by one person had to be fenced, even if it traditionally had not been fenced; the situation that arises in such cases if planning permission for a fence is refused; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22839/15]
Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department, in the context of delivering the Single Payment Scheme, Disadvantaged Areas' Scheme and other area-based schemes, is required to carry out a comprehensive set of administrative and on-the spot checks to ensure scheme eligibility requirements were complied with.
For exclusively owned land, a permanent fence will normally define the area to be measured. However, the situation may be different in the case of hill land. In such situations, if my Department was satisfied that the lands in question continued to be actively farmed in the traditional manner by hill farmers in compliance with the requirements of the EU regulations governing the Direct Payment Schemes, this issue would not arise.
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