The department is developing a new Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) that will replace the current 25 year old system. The LPIS is the department’s land database which underpins payments to farmers under area-based schemes such as the Basic Payment Scheme (BPS), the Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS) the Areas of Natural Constraint Scheme, afforestation schemes, and the Organic Farming Scheme.
The overall objective is to ensure the most efficient delivery of €1.6 billion of EU funded scheme payments to applicants, in line with regulatory requirements.
The new LPIS will provide an improved service for farmers.
The following improvements are of particular benefit:
- all land parcels moving to the new LPIS have been re-numbered as part of the changeover to the new system. This is an important simplification for farmers, as the new number will, in general remain the same on the new LPIS
- land parcels are positioned as accurately as possible in the new LPIS, which is based on the most up to date Ordnance Survey Ireland mapping standard
- in general, land parcels with administrative boundaries that are not associated with a real world feature on the ground (such as a hedgerow or a road) are merged into a single parcel in the new LPIS
- in general, land parcels which have roads or rivers cutting across them are split into separate parcels in the new LPIS
The new LPIS was first introduced in Louth in 2019, and has been rolled out in an additional five counties (Meath, Monaghan, Cavan, Leitrim, and Longford) in 2020. It will be operational in 2021 for counties Carlow, Dublin, Kildare, Laois, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, Westmeath and Wicklow.