Vol. 485 No. 4
32 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Minister for Agriculture and Food the investigation, if any, which has been carried out by his Department into reports of a major fraud involving the payment of ewe premiums in the west; if so, the outcome of this investigation; the steps, if any, which are being taken to prevent similar abuses in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23206/97]
My Department carries out on-farm inspections under the ewe premium and other premium and headage schemes as required under the relevant EU regulations. In so far as the 1997 ewe premium scheme is concerned those on-farm inspections were carried out in the period January-April 1997 coinciding with the retention period under the scheme. For 1997 my Department was able to increase the number of inspection visits made without notification to the farmer due to the availability of detailed information on the location of animals provided by the land parcel identification system. While this resulted in some increase in the number of irregularities detected the overall percentage is quite small and the findings would not support suggestions of widespread fraud or abuse of the scheme. My Department has not been involved in any other investigations relating to the ewe premium scheme in the meantime. Inspections under the 1998 ewe premium scheme are scheduled to commence shortly and the number of unannounced inspections will be increased.
