Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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230. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if there was a difference on the amount of entitlements paid in 2016 as to the year 2012; the reason this difference occurred in relation to the case of a person (details supplied). [39365/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The person named held 15.71 entitlements under the 2012 Single Payment Scheme and received payment to the value of €4142 on these entitlements. 8.52 of these Single Payment Entitlements with a total value of €2,207.53 were leased in from another farmer with a lease expiry date of 31 December 2013.

Under the new CAP reform which came into effect on the 1^stJanuary 2015, the Single Payment Scheme was replaced by the Basic Payment Scheme.  All existing Single Payment entitlements expired on the 31^stDecember 2014.

The EU Regulations governing the Scheme provide that an automatic right to receive an allocation of entitlements under the Basic Payment Scheme was allocated to farmers who were in receipt of a direct payment in 2013. The number of Basic Payment Scheme entitlements allocated to a farmer in 2015 was based on the number of eligible hectares declared by them in 2013 or 2015, whichever was the lesser.

The value of entitlements allocated to a farmer in 2015 was based on a fixed percentage of the value of entitlements held by the farmer in 2014 and any payment received under the 2014 Grassland Sheep Scheme

The person named declared 18.45 eligible hectares in both 2013 and 2015 Scheme years. The total value of entitlements held by the person named under the 2014 Single Payment Scheme and payment under the 2014 Grassland Sheep payment was €2,837.71.

In this regard 18.45 Basic Payment Scheme entitlements were established with a total value of €2,802.23 including greening in 2015 rising under the internal convergence process to a total value including greening of €3,256.03 in 2019.

In order to draw down payment under the Basic Payment Scheme a farmer must declare one eligible hectare for each entitlement held.  The person named submitted 17.55 hectares of eligible land on the 2016 Basic Payment Scheme application and as a result payment issued on 17.55 entitlements.