Vol. 539 No. 1
63 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the steps which have been undertaken to refund the EU up to £100 million in grant payments made in the past ten years to farmers who have been found to have claimed illegally; if this money will be paid from the Exchequer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18811/01]
I am not aware of findings of illegal claims for grants by farmers in the order of £100 million. I assume the Deputy is referring to the cull of animals in County Louth in the context of foot and mouth and the position is as follows. Following the completion of this cull my Department carried out a detailed assessment of ewe premium applications compared to the number of sheep culled. This revealed significant discrepancies in a number of cases between the number of sheep culled and the number declared for ewe premium. The Department will proceed to withhold payments in these cases, impose appropriate penalties and, in the case of possible fraud, investigate with the Garda authorities.
My Department is currently conducting a full re-evaluation of ewe premium applications countrywide. The results of this evaluation are expected in the next few weeks and payment of the first instalment of 2001 ewe premium will not be made until this has been done. In addition, a system of individual sheep tagging has recently been introduced which will minimise the risk of such discrepancies arising in the future.
