Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have always said that about 73% or 74% oF farmers are totally unaffected by this. There is a cohort of farmers, approximately 20%, who have a minor issue with regard to overclaims of less than 2% or 3% on ineligible land.

The repayments those farmers must make are very small. The payments they did not get last year as a result of ineligible land are very small. There are also a very small number of farmers - in the low hundreds - who have claimed on over 20% of their land, which requires a 100% penalty. We need to work out a way forward with those farmers.

This is public money. There are only two ways to deal with this. Either we try to deal with it accurately ourselves on a parcel-by-parcel, case-by-case and farm-by-farm basis, or the Commission will deal with it by making an estimate. It will multiply that estimate by five, seven or ten and that will be a disallowance or a fine which every farmer will have to pay because it will come out of the agriculture budget. That fine could be up to €160 million, which is the figure we have been quoted. The Deputy knows that and I appeal to him to help us to resolve this issue in as fair a way as possible for farmers so that there is a minimal impact on agriculture as a whole.

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