Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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490. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when new partnership farmers will receive single farm payments; the reason there has been a substantial delay with all payments made to those who have recently entered into farm partnerships; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35803/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Advance payments under the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) commenced in Ireland on 17 October 2016 in respect of applicants whose applications are fully processed and who have no outstanding errors.  This is the earliest that payments can commence under the governing EU Regulations.

The Basic Payment Scheme is fully funded by the European Union and the relevant Competent Authorities in each Member State are obliged to ensure that the requirements of the governing EU Regulations are observed and that only valid applications that fully comply with the requirements are paid.

There are currently 1,398 Registered Farm Partnerships (RFPs) applications on the BPS system, of which 1,310, representing 94% of all applications have been paid an advance. 

565 RFPs have been registered since 29th May 2015.  486 of these have received an advance to date (86%).

The processing of applications under the Basic Payment Scheme is a complex administrative task and one that remains a top priority for my Department.  This is particularly the case in relation to RFPs involving multiple herd numbers and corresponding sets of entitlements. 

Processing of the remaining cases is on going with payment runs on a regular basis to ensure cases are picked up for payment once they have cleared the administrative check process.