Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

84. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when a person (details supplied) will receive payments; the reason for the delay in processing same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39743/15]

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

EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases Remote Sensing (i.e. satellite) inspections, be completed to confirm eligibility under the schemes. The 2014 Direct Payments application of the person named was selected for a Remote Sensing inspection. Initial processing of this inspection identified over-claims of between 3% and 20% the person named was notified of this outcome on 29 November 2014. Payments due on the basis set out above issued to the nominated bank account of the person named the advance payment in 4 November 2014 with the balancing payment issuing on 1 December 2014.

The person named sought a review of this decision and a field inspection was deemed necessary. This subsequent field visit, to verify the position on the ground, identified discrepancies between the area declared and the area determined resulting in an over-declaration in area of greater than 20%. Based on the terms and conditions of the scheme this resulted in no payment being due under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme. The person named was notified of the outcome of this field visit by letter issued on 25 June 2015. The person named sought a review of this decision. The review was completed by the District Inspector the result of which was to uphold the original decision. The person named was notified of this decision on 1 September 2015. The person named has appealed this decision to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office and the appeal is currently being examined. The person named will be notified of the outcome of the appeal on completion of the appeal process. In the event that the person named considers that they have been treated unfairly by the Appeals Office they can raise the matter with the Office of the Ombudsman.

As payment had already issued under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme, my Department is required to recover any over-payment from future payments issuing to an applicant. In this case the over-payment for 2014 was recovered from payments due to the person named under the 2015 Direct Payments Schemes.

In the event that the outcome of a review of the independent Agriculture Appeals Office decision results in monies being due under the Single Payment Scheme, payment of any such amounts will be processed and issued to the person named on completion of the review process. In addition, any monies recovered from other scheme payments in respect of the original overpayment will be refunded to the person named.