Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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707. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason there has been a change in value in payments to a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22093/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Basic Payment Scheme and Greening Payment replaced the Single Payment Scheme at the end of 2014 and a new set of BPS entitlements has been allocated to all eligible applicants under the scheme. The number of BPS entitlements allocated was determined by the number of eligible hectares declared by a farmer in 2013 or 2015, whichever was the lesser, and the value of entitlements allocated was based on a fixed percentage of the value of Single Payment Scheme entitlements owned by the farmer in 2014 and any payment received under the 2014 Grassland Sheep Scheme.

The person named held 32.47 entitlements valued at €243.60 each in 2014 giving him a payment of €7,909.69 in 2014. These entitlements expired on 31 December 2014 and he was then allocated 33.29 Basic Payment Scheme entitlements based on the eligible land declared in 2015. These entitlements are valued at €156.96 each in 2015. The value of the payment received by the person named in 2015, including his Greening Payment, which totals €7,524.57, shows a marginal reduction on the value of his payment in 2014. This is consistent with the marginal reduction to all farmers’ payments in 2015 based on the reduced national ceiling allocated to Ireland under CAP 2015-2019. The value of the entitlements held by the person named will increase under convergence each year from 2015-2019 as set out in the Definitive Statement of Entitlements issued to the person named in early June 2016.