Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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801. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application for a farm payment appeal by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13165/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The person named submitted a 2015 Basic Payment /Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme application on 29 April 2015. EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases on-farm inspections, be completed before any payments issue. The application of the person named was selected for a Ground Eligibility inspection. The inspection identified discrepancies between the areas declared and the area found resulting in an over-declaration in area of greater than 50%. Based on the terms and conditions of the schemes this resulted in no payments being due under the 2015 Direct Payments Scheme and the application of an administrative fine to be offset against any future EU payments.

The person named was notified of the inspection outcome on 16 November 2015 and appealed this decision to the District Inspector. The outcome of this appeal was to uphold the inspection findings.

The person named has appealed to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office and that process is currently ongoing. At the end of this process if the person named feels that they have been treated unfairly they can raise the matter with the Office of the Ombudsman.