Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this matter. I understand that before the vote there was a discussion on Dáil reform. One of the issues was that a Topical Issue could be deferred so the Minister is present to reply. I am grateful that the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, can attend as I know he was unavoidably absent last Thursday.

In recent weeks I have been contacted by a large number of farmers in County Galway and throughout the country who received letters from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine concerning so-called over-claims on their area aid applications. They are incensed that they may be retrospectively billed for past years. These farmers applied on the area of land that appeared on maps supplied by the Department and in some cases on the area of land as measured by the Department's own inspectors following farm inspections. I was contacted by one farmer who had an area aid inspection about five years ago and when he received the new altered maps he believed he had his duty done. However, he found that the new aerial photograph has resulted in him being penalised by another 0.5 of a hectare for the smallest of deductions ranging from 0.01 to 0.2 of a hectare spread out over the farm, including the lawn in front of his house. This farmer is under the 3% penalty clause, or two hectares, but is now dreading another letter in the post in a few weeks demanding payment of whatever the so-called recovery of the single farm payment might be.

All the farmers who spoke to me said they only wished to claim on eligible land and if there were some adjustments to be made following the aerial surveillance, they would accept this. However, there should be no retrospection for past years, given that it was the Department's maps which were used in this process. It is important that this message is conveyed to Europe. A strong message should be sent that this is an unfair penalty on farmers who, at all times, were only supplying the information that was supplied to them by the Department. Much of this problem is emanating from Europe and it is at European level that it must be tackled. Individual farmers cannot effect massive change within the system and for that reason I believe the Government must take this issue up at the highest levels in Europe and press for a fair resolution for Irish farmers. Penalising farmers retrospectively for something that is beyond their control, because they placed their faith in the figures supplied by the Department, will simply crush all credibility in the current system and will have a severely negative impact on the attitude of farmers to farm schemes in the future.

Another issue which is related to the issue under discussion is the length of time that the review process is taking. For a start, many farmers will not appeal the over-claim as they should, believing they are taking on the might of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I will be urging all farmers to appeal all aspects of the over-claim that they feel are unfair. Second, for those who do appeal, the process is taking far too long. The timeframe for decisions must be made clearer and every effort must be made to ensure that the appeals are processed without delay.

In conclusion, I urge the Minister to take up this issue at the highest level in Europe and to make the strongest case possible for the farmers of Ireland, who are being treated in a most unfair way and who fear incurring penalties for something that is beyond their control at a time when they, like all people in the community, are under huge financial pressure.

See this speech in context