Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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168. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will consider amending the application form for the BPS and ANC schemes for 2019 to ensure there is a place on the form for persons to put in land which is occupied long-term without registered ownership, lease or rental and which under the terms of the schemes if farmed must be declared even though not eligible for payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48676/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Basic Payment Scheme terms and conditions state that in determining the eligibility of land applied upon to draw down payment, the land declared must be managed by the farmer.  If the farmer is not the owner of the land, the farmer must be in a position to provide verifiable evidence that the land is available to them for the required period.

Farmers who enter into leases or letting agreements for any of the lands declared by them on their Basic Payment application must be in a position to provide verifiable evidence if requested that the land is available to them for the required period as set out under the “Land Availability Rule”.  Land that is declared by a farmer on the basis that it is available to them on the 31 May only on foot of an agreement with another party will only be eligible for payment if a written agreement is in place.

 As above,for all lands declared by a farmer, where the farmer is not the owner of the lands declared, the farmer  must be able to provide verifiable evidence that the land is available to them for the required period.  Only lands that meet these criteria should be declared by the farmer in their application for the basic payment scheme.