Vol. 440 No. 8
64 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the level of inquiries that were necessary with farmers claiming payments under the cereal aid scheme; and if it was necessary for officials to inquire into the personal details of growers, including reference to bank accounts and other loan data.
Applications were received from 17,150 farmers claiming payments under the arable aid scheme. It was, of course, necessary for my Department to make inquiries and carry out on-the-spot inspections in order to ensure compliance with EU regulations before payment could be made.
Some 25 per cent of the applications received were the subject of inquiries. Most of these queries were carried out by telephone or by writing to the farmer.
In a small number of cases it was necessary to carry out checks to ensure compliance with EU regulations. The regulations stipulated that holdings could not be split after 30 June 1992 for the purposes of avoiding set-aside. Where suspect cases were identified it was open to farmers to provide the requisite evidence to support applications. Invoices for farm inputs and receipts for sale of grain were accepted as evidence that the holding had operated separately prior to June 1992. The existence of a separate bank account could also indicate separate farming operations. Farmers were not required to furnish details of their bank accounts or loans.
