Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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503. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the fee paid by his Department to contract companies to carry out remote sensing eligibility satellite inspections, by county, in tabular form in 2016 and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50517/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Remote Sensing (Satellite) inspection process involves the processing of a large range of satellite imagery received at various stages throughout the year. Each case selected for inspection is then comprehensively reviewed using this imagery to ensure that the claimed area in the application form corresponds to the area farmed by the applicant, that the different crop types are as claimed and that eligible land or features are included for payment purposes. Where it is not possible to make an accurate determination on the eligibility of a parcel or parcels of land by means of an assessment of the available imagery, a field visit must be undertaken to verify the position on the ground.

Payments by my Department to carry out Remote Sensing inspections in respect of the 2016 and 2017 scheme years totalled €1.127m for 2016 and €0.947m for 2017 to date. Payments are not made on a county basis.