Area Aid: if you’re not in by Monday, you can’t win
Applicants must ensure their completed form is received in the Area Aid Unit, Department of Agriculture and Food, Hume House, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 or any local Department office, no later than 5.30 pm on Monday.
For applications involving permanent pasture only (grass), a 0.5 % reduction is applied to any related aid payable for each working day that the application is late, up to July 1.
In all other Area Aid applications, a 1% reduction is applied for each working day that the application is late, up to 25 calendar days, after which no aid will be payable.
Farmers are reminded to use the Return Envelope with attached Swiftpost label that issued to them with their pre-printed application form. If the Department does not receive a 2003 application in the post, only the Swiftpost receipt from the Post Office will be acceptable as proof of posting.
Blank, non-personalised 2003 Area Aid application forms and continuation sheets are available from the Area Aid Unit, local Department offices and from Teagasc.
If you’re considering entering the Early Retirement Scheme (ERS) in the next year, make an Area Aid application now, farmers were advised by IFA Rural Development Chairman Michael Bergin.
“Also, farmers who plan to join REPS must have an Area Aid application”, he said. Only land parcels declared on an Area Aid application will be eligible for payment under REPS, he pointed out.
