Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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1391. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of an application for a Scottish derogation for a person (details supplied). [41616/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The person named submitted an application for an allocation of entitlements under the ’Scottish Derogation’ measure of the 2015 Basic Payment Scheme.

Under EU Regulations governing the Scottish Derogation measure of the Basic Payment scheme, processing of applications involves administrative checks to verify that the applicant had been actively farming in the Beef, Dairying, Sheep or Arable sectors on 15 May 2013.

The administrative checks subsequently uncovered that the person named did not have evidence of agricultural production on 15th May 2013 but did have evidence of production later in 2013. Consequently the application under the Scottish Derogation measure of the Basic Payment Scheme was deemed to be ineligible.

The person named was notified of this decision in writing and advised of the option to appeal this decision. This appeal was received and considered by my Department based on the information set out by the applicant and the original decision was upheld. The person named was notified of this decision in writing and was offered the opportunity to submit a further appeal to the Independent Appeals Committee. The person named has submitted a further appeal. The Agricultural Appeals Office has recently finalised arrangements to manage such appeals and the person named has been notified in writing of this development. The Agricultural Appeals Office will be in contact with the person named shortly.