I have been to the forefront in raising the question of simplification of the rules surrounding the penalty regime at the Council of Agriculture Ministers. A new EU Commission regulation was published on 12 December last, which will apply to the 2002 schemes and onwards. In line with our commitment in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness and also our quality customer service, my Department has published an information booklet, which is being sent to every farmer in Ireland this week. The booklet explains how the new regime will work. It will serve as a useful guide to farmers and their advisers. In addition, starting from next week, my Department, in conjunction with Teagasc, will hold a series of public information meetings for farmers. These meetings will take place in every county in Ireland over the next two weeks. The emphasis at these meetings will be on how farmers can avoid penalties and maximise their entitlements under the various schemes.
I am satisfied that the new arrangements, while not giving us everything we would want, will be of considerable benefit to farmers. The most significant improvements are: reduced penalties for late lodgement of area aid applications; no penalty for over-declaration of forage area; a farm based approach to bovine livestock inspections; and a fairer approach to penalties for non-compliance with scheme conditions. While there are arrangements for applying a penalty under the extensification premium scheme, this will only arise in the case of a forage over-declaration and even then a penalty will not be applied if the area found is sufficient to support the stocking density.
The changes in the rules governing EU direct payment schemes will be implemented through the processing of 2002 applications. The changes have already been incorporated into the terms and conditions of the relevant schemes, which issued to each applicant.