I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the committee to discuss the first annual report of the Agriculture Appeals Office. I hope we can answer members' queries satisfactorily.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food established the Agriculture Appeals Office in fulfilment of a commitment given in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. This commitment, which was endorsed in the protocol on direct payments to farmers, was that the Government would set up "on a statutory basis in accordance with the principles of natural justice an independent, accessible and properly resourced appeals unit whose remit would include all the FEOGA schemes paying directly to individual farmers". It was decided to use the social welfare appeals office as the template for the new Agriculture Appeals Office. The social welfare appeals system had, at that stage, been in operation, on a statutory basis, for ten years and was working well.
The Agriculture Appeals Act was passed by the Oireachtas in July 2001. Arrangements were then made to recruit a director, secure a premises and put the appeals structure in place. Transitional arrangements were also needed to ensure that there was a smooth handover to the new statutory system. In May 2002 the Minister for Agriculture and Food signed the Agriculture Appeals Regulations 2002 setting out the procedures to be used in dealing with appeals. These regulations came into effect on 13 May 2002, the date on which the Agriculture Appeals Office was established. It was also the date of my appointment as director of agriculture appeals. There are now ten appeals officers and four support staff assigned to the Agriculture Appeals Office which is located in Portlaoise, County Laois.
Much of what is in the annual report is self-explanatory and, given the time constraints, I do not propose to comment on all of its contents. In order to make the annual report more useful, we decided it would have to contain more than an account of our activities for the year. For that reason, we have given examples, on pages 12 to 15, of some of the appeals dealt with during the year. We have also made recommendations to the Department on page 16. These are based on the appeals officers' findings in various cases. On the other side of the equation, on page 17 we have given examples of typical mistakes made by farmers that lead to penalties and subsequent appeals. Finally, for ease of reference, we reproduced the Agriculture Appeals Act and the relevant regulations.
From May to December of 2002, 518 appeals were received. The annual report gives the breakdown of this figure by scheme and by month. Given that the report covers a seven month period rather than a full year, I caution against drawing many conclusions from the figures. For members' information, I can advise that from January to the end of October 2003, 1,000 appeals were received. I expect the figure for the full year to be somewhere between 1,100 and 1,200.
Members will see that the REP scheme generated the largest number of appeals in 2002. A total of 36% of appeals received related to REPS. A bar chart is provided on page 8 of the report which shows the figures for scheme applications in 2002. There were almost 37,000 farmers in REPS in 2002. It might seem that the number of appeals generated by REPS is relatively high compared to, for example, the suckler cow premium scheme or the special beef premium scheme. It should be remembered, however, that REPS is different to these other schemes in that it is a five year contract between the farmer and the Department. In addition to the usual administrative requirements of the scheme, for example, notifying the Department when there are changes in the area of land farmed and submitting applications for payment every year, there are eight different measures in REPS where the farmer is required to abide by the commitments given in his or her agri-environmental plan. Each of these requirements can generate penalties if the farmer fails to comply with them.
The Agriculture Appeals Act 2001 guarantees the right to an oral hearing. If an appellant requests such a hearing, it must then take place. Even if the farmer does not request an oral hearing, the appeals officer may decide that one is necessary in order to deal with the case properly. Approximately half of the appeals dealt with in 2002 involved oral hearings and this trend is continuing in 2003. Oral hearings are conducted in private and in an informal atmosphere. Appeals officers have the power to take sworn evidence at oral hearings but this has not yet been necessary. Venues for hearings are chosen so as to be as close as possible to the appellants place of residence. However, it is necessary to group the hearings together in order to make better use of appeals officers' time. We are committed to dealing with appeals within 90 days. In 2002, the average was 71 days. We will continue to try to improve on this figure.
If a farmer is not aware of his or her right of appeal, how can he or she exercise that right? The most critical point of awareness is when a farmer is notified by the Department of the proposed penalty. All Department officials have been advised of the absolute necessity of advising farmers of their right of appeal at the same time as notifying them of proposed penalties. Since the establishment of the Agriculture Appeals Office, I have made presentations to practically all the staff of the Department of Agriculture and Food emphasising the role of the office and the importance of informing farmers of their right of appeal. Appeals officers will continue to monitor correspondence to farmers to ensure that they are being properly advised of their right of appeal.
Information leaflets and appeal forms are available from all local offices of the Department. The establishment of the office in May 2002 was announced publicly in the press. There was also a press announcement to coincide with the publication of the 2002 annual report. In addition, we receive regular feedback from the farming organisations through the protocol monitoring committee. Our website is now up and running and it carries the information leaflet and the appeals form as well as other useful information. We also operate a lo-call telephone number that can be used for all contacts with the staff of the Agriculture Appeals Office.
I hope my presentation has addressed some of the issues of concern to members. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer any further queries that members may wish to raise.