Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 February 2014
93. Deputy Martin Ferris asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of farmers who have received notification from his Department that they have over-claimed single farm payments since 2009. [6317/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI am asking about the number of farmers that have received notification from that Department that they have over-claimed single farm payments since 2009. This probably should have run with the Priority Question. How many have over-claimed?
I probably gave the Deputy most of the numbers on that earlier. I can probably read the answer for him again.
It is 4,800.
That is the number of farmers who want us to reconsider the issue and have sought an appeal. However, more than 4,800 farmers are involved here. I will send the Deputy the detailed answer I have here, rather than reading it out because we would run out of time if I did. Approximately 72% of farmers have no issue with mapping or eligibility. A further 20% approximately have made an over-claim of between 0% and 3%. So the money involved is relatively small. I would not like to dismiss it because it is important to the farmers concerned, but in relative terms it is not a significant amount of money. Some of those farmers have already repaid money to address the retrospective issue and are now in the clear.
Approximately 7% of farmers have an over-claim above 3%. I will send the Deputy the exact figures I have on that. A very small percentage of farmers have an issue with more than a 20% over-claim. Approximately 400 farmers nationally are in that category. We want to work with those farmers individually to deal with their issues around payments that they should not have got last year and the retrospective issue for the past four years. We will try to work with farmers. I am not in the business of putting farmers under any unnecessary financial stress. My Department is there to help this industry and nothing else but we must ensure the rules are kept and that if public money is spent on land that is not eligible for money that has been drawn down on it, we have to give it back. We have to examine the appropriate repayment mechanisms to allow that to happen in a way that will ease the financial burden on the relatively small number of farmers who are in that category. However, that is no consolation to the 400 farmers who are in that category but it is 400 out of approximately 130,000.
Question No. 94 in the name of Deputy Pringle cannot be taken as the Deputy is not present in the Chamber.
Questions Nos. 95 and 96 in the name of Deputy Ó Cuív cannot be taken as the Deputy is not present in the Chamber.
Question No. 97 in the name of Deputy Luke 'Ming' Flanagan cannot be taken as the Deputy is not present in the Chamber.
Question Nos. 98 in the name of Deputy Ó Cuív cannot be taken as he is not present in the Chamber.
Question No. 99 in the name of Deputy Wallace cannot be taken as he is not present in the Chamber.
