Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I join my colleagues in welcoming everybody back for a very productive session up to Christmas. I ask other Members to support me and ask the Leader to write to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, rather than inviting him to come to the House, in respect of single farm payments due in October 2013. Almost 100,000 farmers are facing penalties dating back from 2008 to 2013 due to digitisation of maps. The Minister introduced the BVD scheme a couple of years ago for which I congratulate him. I have done some research in my own herd for the IFA on the scheme. Many of the new BVD tags are falling out. This can have serious consequences for a farmer inspected by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine if a number of tags is missing. The Minister must realise there is a problem with the tags and must inform his officials to be lenient in respect of this matter.

We have had a great summer and everybody has enjoyed the best summer for many years. However, we must not forget the previous year, the previous 18 months and the previous two years when farmers experienced the worst weather of the century. Many farmers are facing the heaviest co-operative bills and still have not paid them off. Will the penalties be applied to the single farm payments in October and December 2013? I am aware it is an EU scheme and that if a person is in breach of a scheme a penalty must apply. I ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to consider imposing the penalties over a two-year period rather than imposing the full penalty this year. If a person has a penalty of €1,000, I suggest that €500 be taken this year and €500 next year as that would lessen the pain in what has been a very trying year in respect of agricultural costs. I appreciate we had a great summer. I hope the Leader will write to the Minister in respect of these matters and that the rest of the Members will support me.