PAC to focus on Department of Agriculture accounts

The agenda for tomorrow’s meeting is:

(i) Business of the Committee; and
(ii) Appropriation Accounts 2015
Vote 30 : Agriculture, Food and the Marine
C&AG Report 2015
Chapter 7 : EU Refunds and Levies in the Agriculture Sector
[Representatives from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine]

Committee Chairman Seán Fleming said: “Tomorrow we will discuss the 2015 appropriation accounts for the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Chapter 7 of the Comptroller & Auditor General’s report on EU refunds and levies in the agriculture sector.

“Chapter 7 examines two payments by the Department to the EU in 2015. The first is a refund of €68 million to the EU for non-compliance with the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development scheme regulations. The second issue is a payment to the EU of €71 million in 2015 as a result of Irish milk production exceeding the national milk quota. The recovery of those funds from milk producers is also dealt with.

“In relation to the appropriation accounts, total gross expenditure amounted to €1.3 billion in 2015. In addition to this voted expenditure, EU expenditure totalling just over €1 billion was channelled through the Department in 2015. The bulk of this expenditure was accounted for by the Single Farm Payment. Among the issues we may wish to examine are instances of non-compliance with national procurement rules, cases of payroll overpayments and overpayments in relation to the Green Low-Carbon Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS).”

This meeting will take place in Committee room 3 at 9am on Thursday, 16 February 2017. Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.