Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a payment to a person (details supplied) in County Mayo under the area aid scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40774/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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An application under the Disadvantaged Area Schemes was received from the person named on 29 April 2010. Processing of the application was finalised and payment issued on 17 December 2010. In relation to the 2015 Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme an application was received from the person named on 24 April 2015. Payment has not issued to the person named as, at this stage, the holding concerned has not satisfied the Scheme’s minimum stocking density requirements.

Under the 2015 Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme, eligible applicants are required to have met a minimum stocking density of 0.15 livestock units for a retention period of seven consecutive months and to maintain an annual average of 0.15 livestock units calculated over the twelve months of the scheme year.

Department records confirm that six equine passports were received on 19 October 2015 from the person named. These passports were ineligible as per The Terms and Conditions which govern the 2015 scheme, applicants must in the first instance have bred a foal from a mare registered on the holding in 2014, in either 2013 or 2014; which was registered in a stud book approved by the Department with a pedigree recorded (Sire and Dam).

As the holding failed to maintain the minimum livestock numbers for the required period of seven consecutive months and annual total, the holding cannot be considered eligible for payment under the Areas of Natural Constraints Scheme.