The delay in issuing 36,219 farm payments at an estimated value of €135.26m has is “placing undue financial hardship on families”, according to Denis Naughten TD.

“Famers are forced to carry the cost of delayed payments and many require payments to meet loans and other bills,” stated Denis Naughten. “Nationally, the highest numbers of delayed payments are in counties Galway, Mayo and Donegal.

“It is hugely frustrating that even though farmers submitted their applications over five months ago, all of the almost 7,000 farmers who had a satellite inspection have had their payments delayed. What has the Department been doing over this period?

“While many of these hold ups are due to relatively minor ‘mapping issues’, the delay will cause severe financial hardship for many farm families as they pay outstanding bills and plan for Christmas.

“In such cases, an interim payment should be issued to farmers, which will at least help them to meet bills and bank repayments,” concluded Denis Naughten.

ENDS.

Editor’s note: see Dáil replies.
               Parliamentary Question No. 84  
 
 
 
 
To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers on a county basis awaiting the first instalment of their Basic Payment and Area of Natural Constraints Scheme payments respectively; the corresponding value of payments outstanding; if he will ensure that a partial payment is made to all farmers while outstanding issues are being resolved; the corresponding number awaiting the final instalment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

 
For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 4th November, 2015. 
 
Ref No: 38541/15 
 
 

The Minister for Agriculture, Food   and the Marine : (Simon Coveney) 

The tables below show, at a county level, the n umber of applicants, the number of applicants   paid   the number of applicants not paid and   the total amount paid to date under both the Basic Payments Scheme and the Areas of Natural Constraints .
 
It is not possible to calculate the amount of payment outstanding at county level as requested by the Deputy. This is because for outstanding cases under both schemes there may be outstanding queries which, when resolved, may have an impact on the level of payment due. My Department is prioritising the processing of all such outstanding cases with regular payment runs continuing over the coming weeks.    Balancing payments of 27% will begin to issue from 1 December, with the final instalment (3%) due for payment in 2016. 
 
 
 
2015 A reas of N atural C onstraints S cheme s tats

 
 
 
 
 
2015 Basis Payment Scheme 

Parliamentary Question No.  83
 
 
To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of applications under the Basic Payment Scheme that were listed for a remote satellite inspection; when the remote inspection took place; the reason this data has yet to be returned to his Department; if it is acceptable that farmers should have their payments delayed due to administrative delays in performing such remote inspections given that the contractor and his Department had in excess of three months to complete such an examination; if he will release a partial payment to farmers given that these delays are completely outside of their control; and if he will make a statement on the matter. 

 
For WRITTEN answer on Wednesday, 4th November, 2015. 
 
Ref No: 38540/15 
 
 

The Minister for Agriculture, Food   and the Marine : (Simon Coveney) 

EU Regulations gov erning the Basic Payment Scheme requires my Department to carry out administrative checks to verify that the eligibility conditions for aid have been met. The regulations also require that these administrative checks be supplemented by on-the-spot checks, i.e. ground and/or remote sensing inspections.   Furthermore the regulations state that payments due under the Direct Payment scheme s shall not be made before the verification of the eligibility conditions have been finalised. In submitting an application under the Direct Payment Schemes and other area-based schemes, an applicant agrees to comply with the conditions of these schemes. 
 
In order to reduce the number of on farm inspections and to remove the need for an initial farm visit my Department has moved to increase the use of remote sensing inspections using satellite imagery. In 2015 6,805 cases were selected for inspection remotely. All   6 , 805   cases been initiated. A pprox imately 5 , 000 have been concluded and any payments due following application verification checks have issued. It is my Department ’ s intention to finalise all outstanding remote s ensing cases as soon as possible. 
 
Where an individual application has been selected for a remote sensing inspection no payment can issue to the applicant until the inspection has been completed and the results are fully processed. EU regulations do not allow partial payments for these cases.