The Department of Agriculture is gearing up to pay out over €560m in the balance of Single Farm Payments to 120,000 farmers from 1 December.

This follows good progress on advance payments since 16 October, with 117,000 farmers paid €560m to date. However, the Irish Farmers Journal understands that one in 10 farmers will face deductions totalling up to €10m from their balancing payment. This is because of land eligibility issues going as far back as 2008.

The deductions were triggered by an extensive land parcel identification scheme (LPIS) review on over 900,000 parcels in 2013. That review was triggered by an EU audit that revealed weaknesses in the Irish system. It led to Ireland being hit with a potential fine of €182m, which is currently being appealed to the EU Conciliation Body.

The case is to be heard in December. The deductions from this year’s SFP balance are a lot less than originally feared, but further clawbacks could follow depending on the EU decision.

Speaking at the Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and Marine last March, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney said that as much as €20m to €30m could be clawed back from farmers.

The Department review initially identified over 26,000 farmers or 20% of all farmers who had an issue because of ineligible land that they submitted. Over 10,000 farmers took the option to appeal the findings, with many being successful.

Some farmers were even repaid money earlier this year that was initially deducted from their 2013 Single Farm Payments.

Farmers who did not get a letter on eligibility in the reviews last year will not suffer deductions.

However, the focus on eligibility will remain and come back into focus in 2015 when the eligible hectares farmers submit will be used to establish their Basic Payment Scheme entitlements for the new CAP regime.

The 75% advance of REPS and AOES payments are also still on target for late November/early December once crosschecks on inspections are cleared. Around €50m was paid out under these schemes in December 2015 but payments this year will be lower due to the number of farmers exiting REPS in the last 12 months.

The Grassland Sheep Scheme is still on target for payment after 8 December.