Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1950. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if women with at least a level 6 in agriculture or who have been head of a farm holding for at least three years could qualify for the TAMS 60% grant (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63016/21]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1951. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if women who join a formal farm partnership with a minimum level 6 qualification and who meet the eligible age criteria can obtain the 60% TAMS grant within the partnership; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63017/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1950 and 1951 together.

Subject to the approval of the European Commission, it is proposed under an On-Farm Capital Investment Scheme under the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP) that a general grant rate of 40% will be available for eligible investments. It is also proposed in the CSP that eligible female farmers, who meet the eligibility criteria may qualify for grant aid at a rate of 60%.

The proposed eligible female farmers are those:

- Aged between 18 years of age and 66 at any time during the calendar year in which she submits an application for support.

- Meet the conditions for being head and having control of the holding;

- Meets the requirements for the appropriate training and/or skills required at application.

Applicants who do not meet the criteria above will remain eligible to submit an application under the On-Farm Capital investment scheme at the standard rate of 40%.

It is proposed that applications from registered farm partnerships will continue to be provided for under the Capital Investment Scheme with the full details to be finalised. The Capital Investment Scheme, as is the case with all proposals under the CAP Strategic Plan (CSP), is in the process of development and is subject to the formal approval of the European Commission.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1952. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of landowners found to have been ineligible for funding under an area-based scheme in each of the past ten years due to an incidence of illegal burning in the previous period by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63086/21]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1953. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of inspections, ground and satellite, undertaken by his Department to identify illegal burns by county; the number of illegal burns successfully identified as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63087/21]

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1954. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of times land declared as eligible on a basic payment scheme application was identified as having been burned during the closed season; the number of successful appeals made against this; the criteria by which an appeal is judged; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63088/21]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1952, 1953 and 1954 together.

Burning of land between 1st March and 31st August (which is the closed season) in any year is prohibited under section 40 of the Wildlife Act, 1976 as amended by the Wildlife (Amendment) Act 2000.  

It is specified in the Basic Payment Scheme Terms and Conditions that land burnt during the closed season in any given year, is not eligible for the purpose of payment under the Basic Payment Scheme. 

As required under EU Regulations, all applications under the Basic Payment Scheme are subject to robust administrative checks prior to payment. Only valid applications under the Basic Payment Scheme that fully comply with the requirements of the EU legislation are paid.

As part of these required administrative checks, my Department assesses satellite imagery from a range of sources, including FIRMS¹, EFFIS², along with a manual review by operators of Sentinel³imagery, to identify lands burned during the closed period.  Any area within a land parcel that is identified as being subject to burning in this time period, is deemed ineligible and as a result the eligible area of the parcel is reduced.  The applicant is notified of this reduction and their right of review to this reduction.  Follow-up field visits are undertaken by inspecting officers from my Department where required.  In addition, my Department regularly issues advice and reminders directly to farmers on the negative consequences of burning land illegally including that it may give rise to an overclaim for the farmer.

Such an overclaim will result in a reduction in the eligible area. In addition, as required under the EU Regulations,  further administrative penalties are applied where the area over-claimed is greater than 3% of the area declared or more than 2 hectares.  Full details of how the administrative penalties are calculated can be found in the published Helpsheet and Terms and Conditions 

assets.gov.ie/123734/290d843d-906d-438a-854e-00eec09fee34.pdf  

The collection of statistics in relation to burnt land under the Basic Payment Scheme commenced in 2017 and are set out in table 1 below. It should be noted that these applicant's payments in respect of other area-based schemes (e.g. Areas facing Natural Constraints, GLAS, Organics) may also have been impacted by the reduction in the eligible area. It is important to note that in certain cases the land subject to burning has no impact on the applicant's payments.

Table 1: 

- 2017 includes 62 applications where there was no impact on the BPS payment.

- 2018 includes 2 applications where there was no impact on the BPS payment.

- 2019 includes 293 applications where there was no impact on the BPS payment. 

- 2020 includes 209 applications where there was no impact on the BPS payment.

- 2021 includes 169 applications where there was no impact on the BPS payment. 

Of these 335 applications, 166 gave rise to a reduction/penalty on the applicant's 2021 BPS payment as set out in table 2 below. 

Table 2:  

Please note that these figures will be subject to change due to ongoing reviews and appeals.

Each applicant has a right of appeal, and each appeal is examined on its own its based on the information provided  to the appeals officer by the applicant.  Of the 125 appeals received by my Department to date in respect of 2021 applications, 76 cases had the administrative penalty waived.

However, it should be noted that the burnt area is still considered ineligible and a reduction in payment may result. It should also be noted that where an applicant is dis-satisfied with the outcome of an appeal, they have further right of appeal with the independent Agricultural Appeals Office.

Footnotes. 

1. FIRMS: Fire Information for Resource  Management -earthdata.nasa.gov/earth-observation-data/near-real-time/firms
2. EFFIS: European Forest Fire Information System -effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/
3. Sentinel: Imagery provided by Copernicus -www.copernicus.eu/en