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Farm Inspections

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 June 2013

Tuesday, 11 June 2013

Questions (801)

Patrick O'Donovan

Question:

801. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will provide in tabular form by county and by month the number of unannounced farm inspections that have taken place since 1 January 2013. [27079/13]

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Written answers

My Department, in the context of delivering the Single Payment Scheme and Disadvantaged Areas’ Scheme is required to carry out an annual round of inspections covering both the eligibility of the land declared to draw down payments and also cross compliance aspects, to ensure compliance with EU regulatory requirements in the areas of public, animal and plant health, environment and animal welfare. These inspections are mandatory and there are certain minimum numbers and types of inspections that must take place annually. In addition, my Department undertakes Nitrates inspections under the Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) regulations on behalf of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government on an inter-Agency agreement.

Insofar as notice of farm inspections under the Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Schemes is concerned, in general, all inspections should be unannounced. However, the regulations allow my Department to give up to 14 days notice for land eligibility and cross-compliance inspections involving Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) other than those related to animal identification and registration, food, feed, and animal welfare. For checks involving cattle/sheep identification and registration, the maximum advance notice is 48 hours. For SMRs dealing with feed, food and animal welfare, no advance notice may be given and these inspections must take place on an un-announced basis. Where it is considered that the purpose of any type of inspection may be jeopardized by giving notice, the inspection will take place on an un-announced basis.

As a general rule and following requests from the farming organisations, my Department tries to integrate inspections, including all of the cross-compliance inspection elements, with a view to minimising the number of farm visits and avoiding more than one visit to the farm. However, this obviously has implications for the ability to give notice; however, in a given case, a farmer who is subject to an unannounced, combined inspection, can request that the part for which advance notice is possible be postponed (in the case of animal identification for up to 48 hours and up to 14 days in the case of land eligibility) – of necessity, however, this will require the inspector to go on to the farm again.

The following table provides a breakdown, by county and by month, of the number of unannounced inspections under the Single Payment and Disadvantaged Areas Schemes and the Nitrates (GAP) inspections in the period January to May 2013. These 39 inspections equate to 0.95% of the overall total of 4,104 inspections undertaken in this period.

County

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Carlow

0

0

0

0

0

Cavan

0

0

0

0

0

Clare

0

0

0

0

1

Cork

0

0

0

0

1

Donegal

5

1

2

0

0

Dublin

0

0

0

0

0

Galway

0

0

0

0

0

Kerry

0

0

0

0

0

Kildare

1

0

4

0

0

Kilkenny

0

0

1

0

0

Laois

0

0

0

0

0

Leitrim

0

0

0

0

0

Limerick

0

1

0

1

0

Longford

0

0

0

0

0

Louth

0

0

0

0

0

Mayo

3

2

0

0

1

Meath

0

0

0

0

1

Monaghan

0

0

0

0

0

Offaly

0

0

0

0

0

Roscommon

0

0

2

3

1

Sligo

0

0

0

0

0

Tipperary

0

0

4

2

1

Waterford

0

0

0

0

0

Westmeath

0

0

0

0

0

Wexford

0

0

0

0

0

Wicklow

0

1

0

0

0

Total

9

5

13

6

6

The number of unannounced inspections in relation to other Departmental schemes that include on farm investments schemes, feed hygiene schemes and rural environmental protection scheme (REPS 4) can be found in the table below. It should be noted that there were no unannounced inspection in relation to the Agri-environment Options Scheme (AEOS) for this time period and that my Department suspended routine feed hygiene farm inspections for the 6 week period 25/04/13 to 13/05/13 due to the fodder crisis.

County

January

February

March

April

May

Carlow

2

1

Cavan

1

9

Clare

1

Cork

3

36

Donegal

2

6

Dublin

6

1

Galway

1

7

18

Kerry

5

Kildare

11

2

Kilkenny

1

19

19

Laois

12

Leitrim

1

Limerick

5

1

Longford

7

Louth

2

1

Mayo

4

17

Meath

3

Monaghan

2

Offaly

2

Roscommon

1

6

5

Sligo

5

1

Tipperary

2

1

6

Waterford

1

12

Westmeath

2

2

Wexford

1

2

5

Wicklow

2

TOTAL

0

14

11

146

91

Question No. 802 answered with Question No. 791.
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