Romanian and Indian offices map Ulster’s farms

She explained that Blom UK and DSM Geodata carried out the work from their overseas offices.

She also said that a company from the Republic of Ireland carried out a number of spot checks on farms using ‘remote sensing technology’ last year.

Ms O’Neill explained: “Remote Sensing uses ortho images taken by satellite or aerial photography to check the individual

parcels (fields) included in a Single Application Form claim.

“This is done through a specialised technique called Computer Aided Photo Interpretation (CAPI).”

The Minister recently confirmed that drones are already being used in Northern Ireland to monitor larch trees but could also be used in future to snoop on fraudulent farmers claiming too much in EU farm payments.

She was asked by UUP MLA Danny Kinahan what companies from outside of the UK, received work from her Department relating to the EU Single Farm Payment.

She confirmed: “In 2012, my Department conducted a small number of On the Spot Checks to determine land eligibility for Single Farm Payment using remote sensing technology.

“To do so, we contracted a company from the south of Ireland, through an open procurement competition, to provide specialist services which were not available within my Department.

“Also, as part of the DARD mapping work Land & Property Services (LPS) employed 2 companies based in Britain and the north of Ireland, Blom (UK) and DSM Geodata to positionally improve Ordnance Survey mapping associated with improving the mapping within the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS), which is part of the administration of the Single Farm Payment.

“The Blom work was carried out in their offices in Romania and the DSM Geodata work was carried out in their offices in India.”