Written answers

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Basic Payment Scheme Administration

Photo of Pat DeeringPat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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264. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine why a number of farmers have not received payments under the basic payment scheme, one month after the first payments were issued; why it has taken so long to complete satellite inspections; why no payments have issued to partnerships; if special arrangements will be made with the Revenue Commissioners for those farmers who have not received their payments, through no fault of their own, and who are now unable to meet their tax liabilities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41597/15]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening Payment, I am pleased to confirm that advance payments began issuing in Ireland on 16 October , 2015.   This is the earliest that payments can commence under the governing EU Regulations.  In addition, I can confirm that the level of the advance payment was set at 70% for 2015 rather than the normal 50%.  The increase in the advance payment for 2015 is, in particular, due to the difficulties encountered in the dairying and pigmeat sectors.

Ireland is among the earliest to pay the BPS in the Euro pean Union and to date 114,372 farmers have received payments totalling € 725.7 million . Of the 857 Partnerships registered with the Department before the closing date, 533 have received payments totalling €12.4 million. While farmers’ dealings with the Revenue Commissioners are a matter for the relevant individual, my Department is continuing to process outstanding BPS cases for payment as a matter of priority with over €1 billion anticipated to be paid to farmers by early December.

EU Regulations governing the BPS require my Department to carry out administrative checks to verify that the eligibility conditions for aid have been met. The regulations also require that these administrative checks be supplemented by on-the-spot checks, i.e. ground and/or remote sensing inspections. Furthermore , the regulations state that payments due under the Direct Payment schemes shall not be made before the verification of the eligibility conditions have been finalised. In submitting an application under the BPS and other area based schemes , an applicant agrees to comply with the conditions of these schemes.

Where an individual application has been selected for a remote sensing inspection, no payment can issue to the applicant until the inspection has been completed and the results are fully processed. It should also be noted that EU regulations do not allow partial payments for these cases.

In order to reduce the number of on farm inspections and to remove the need for an initial farm visit my Department has moved to increase the use of remote sensing inspections using satellite imagery. In 2015, approximately 90% of the cases elected for remote inspection have now been concluded and any payments due following application verification checks have issued. It is my Department’s intention to finalise all outstanding remote sensing cases as soon as possible.

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