Some 9,260 appeals have been fully processed by the Department of Agriculture since the 2013 LPIS review, with 1,658 outstanding. According to the data, approximately 45% of all appeals were upheld.

The figures was released by Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney after a request from Sinn Fein TD Martin Ferris.

After the 2013 LPIS Review, an independent LPIS Appeals Committee was established to help farmers who were unhappy with decisions made by the Department of Agriculture. This Committee consists of an independent chairman and a representative from the Agriculture Appeals Office.

Commonage

Speaking in the Dáil in response to a parliamentary question asked by independent TD Michael Fitzmaurice, Minister Coveney said there is no discrimination in relation to the inspection of commonage and private land.

"In general, inspections of commonage land are undertaken as part of the annual round of eligibility inspections of the lands declared, including commonages, by applicants under direct Payment Schemes or as part of a Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) Review. If it forms part of an eligibility inspection, the applicant involved is informed of the inspection in the normal manner," he said.

"Such verification visits may relate to one or more parcels on a farm, irrespective of whether or not commonage land has been declared but are not generally carried out on the entire farm. The applicants are not notified of these verification visits but are notified of the findings of the verification checks," he concluded.

New focus on eligibility

It was revealed this week that the Department of Agriculture is changing the focus on ineligible land. Farmers must now ensure land is grazeable and there will; be greater tolerances for land found ineligible.

It is hoped that farmers with no more than 10% ineligible land on inspection will suffer no deductions and still be able to claim the land as eligible. However, the responsibility to deduct ineligible areas on the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) maps will remain with farmers when they submit their Basic Payment Scheme application each year.