Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 October 2016
520. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason a payment of €30,000 was withheld from a person's (details supplied) single farm payment for 2014; if he will investigate this matter and rectify it by allocating this money; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29541/16]
View answerA report detailing findings of an inspection carried out by the ERAD Animal Health Section of my Department in 2012 was referred to Cross Compliance Unit for attention. This report identified breaches relating to the Cross Compliance requirements under Statutory Management Requirement 11 which governs food and feed hygiene requirements.
The breaches identified related to reactor animals not being removed from the holding and consequential testing being out of date. The breaches were deemed to be intentional and resulted in an overall penalty of 60% being applied against the 2012 Direct Schemes payments.
The person named availed of both the internal department review and appeal to the Agriculture Appeals Office process, which resulted in the department's findings being upheld. The person named was also advised that it was open to them to raise the matter with the Office of the Ombudsman.
As payments due under the 2012 Direct Payments schemes had issued prior to finalisation of the penalties, the monies totalling €28,894.61, were subsequently recovered from payments due to the person named in 2013, as required under the governing EU regulations.
The person named was subsequently selected for an Ovine Identification and Registration inspection in 2014. While this aspect of the inspection was clear, the Inspecting Officers identified breaches in respect of Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC), namely the severe poaching of land in a parcel being used to feed cattle. This resulted in a 5% penalty being applied to the 2014 Direct Payments schemes. The person named was notified of this decision on 13 June 2014 and of their right to seek a review of the decision. To date no such request has been received. This penalty was deducted from the 2014 direct payments of the person named.
Officials in my Department are arranging to issue a statement to the person named detailing payments due and amounts recovered under the various schemes for the period 2012 to present, which I hope will clarify the matter further.
