Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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112. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the current entitlements due to a person (details supplied) in County Donegal; if his Department will take account of the fact that this person has been farming for over a decade on leased land in its review of this farmer's eligibility for entitlements; the reason these previous years of farming have not been taken into account to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39890/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The number of entitlements to be allocated to any one farmer under the Basic Payment Scheme in 2015 is based on the number of eligible hectares declared in 2013 or 2015, whichever is lesser. The person named declared 17.78 hectares of eligible land in 2013 and, in 2015 declared 18.76 therefore he will be allocated 17.7 8 entitlements.

The 2015 value of entitlements is based on a fixed percentage of the total value of entitlements owned by the farmer in 2014 plus the value of any payment received under the Grassland Sheep Scheme in that year. As with all farmers, a person’s direct payment in 2015 is no longer based solely on entitlements but is divided between the Basic Payment Scheme and the Greening payment. In 2014, the person named owned entitlements with a total value of €277.69.

In 2015 the person named has established 17.78 entitlements with an estimated unit value of €29.04. As this unit value is below the National Average, his entitlements will be subject to gradual increase from 2015 to 2019. For 2015, the total value of his Basic Payment Scheme entitlements and greening is €744.69 rising to €2694.07 by 2019. This represents an overall increase of 870% by 2019.