Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 16 July 2014
184. Deputy Patrick O'Donovan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the cost to his Department for determining, notifying the applicant and recouping a penalty under the agri-environment options scheme 3, and in cases were the penalty is less than the cost of finding and administering if he will consider writing off the penalty. [31720/14]
View answerMy Department is the accredited paying agency with responsibility for the proper management and disbursement of European Union funds. The European regulations governing the Agri Environment Options Scheme require that administrative checks be carried out on all applications and that on the spot inspections be carried out on at least 5% of beneficiaries. The fundamental reason for these checks is to protect the European tax payers financial contribution to the Scheme. In order to protect the integrity of the payment system and to avoid disallowances, all penalties must be identified and applied.
