Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

547. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Parliamentary Question No. 547 of 24 May 2016, if he will list the forms of evidence he accepts from an applicant to the basic payment scheme, when the applicant intends to declare an agricultural area eligible for payment, that was previously deemed ineligible by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14543/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All land parcels declared on the Basic Payment Scheme application must meet the requirements of an “eligible hectare” as defined in the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme. In particular Section 1.5 of the 2016 Terms and Conditions of the Direct Payment Schemes outlines the Eligibility Requirements. In particular it states: “In order to be eligible for payment each land parcel must have an agricultural activity carried out on it. An ‘Agricultural Activity’ means: a) The production, rearing or growing of agricultural products, including harvesting, milking, breeding animals, and keeping animals for farming purposes. b) Maintaining an agricultural area in a state suitable for grazing or cultivation”.

Furthermore it states: “In the case of each hectare declared, the eligible area excludes any areas under roads, paths, buildings, farmyards, woods, scrub, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes, sand, areas of bare rock, boglands unfit for grazing, sand/gravel pits, areas used for quarrying, areas fenced off and not being accessed, areas un grazed due to low stocking rates, areas of un grazed mature heather, rushes or ferns, inaccessible areas, land that is not being maintained in a state suitable for grazing or cultivation by the applicant, areas used exclusively as sports fields, golf courses, pitch and putt courses, areas used for commercial turf production or any other areas of ungrazable ground cover. Deductions are not required for headlands or for landscape features such as hedgerows and drains/ditches. Where you have not previously advised the Department of any of the above exclusions, please outline them clearly on the map provided and return it with your 2016 BPS Application form.”

Where the land is agriculture area and is brought back into compliance with the requirements outlined above by the removal of ineligible features it can then be deemed eligible for payment. In addition, it is open to the applicant to declare an area of land previously rejected as ineligible due to the lack of an agricultural activity where he/she has resumed an activity on the land and the area is otherwise eligible.