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

Some things are difficult to predict. I was unaware of it before my appointment to the Department but one such area is called EU disallowances. Every year each country gets assessed by the Commission in terms of how they are implementing schemes and single farm payments and so on. The Commission then makes a decision on the amount of receipts they will not return to member states and we must find that money elsewhere. For example, the Netherlands had a disallowance figure of €120 million because it did not implement a scheme in a way the Commission deemed acceptable. We have disallowance bills as well and they vary depending on the scheme and the year and so on. It is something of an unknown but I am pleased to say that we are performing well in respect of disallowances at the moment. It is a potential unknown which could hit us next year. We have managed to negotiate multiannual repayments of disallowances and this helps to ease the blow. However, if one is looking for bills that appear out of left field, that is probably the most likely area, barring some disease outbreak or crisis in agriculture like the dioxin scare, which cost the Government more than €100 million in payments. One must budget for dealing with crises but one cannot budget for a crisis on that scale.

I have taken some criticism for underpayment last year, which will not happen this year, but there is good reason for much of it and it relates to demand-led schemes and more successful disease control programmes than anticipated. Significant savings were made for these reasons and we can go through the detail if people wish. Ultimately, the best thing we can do today is focus on the budget in six weeks time. If Deputy Ó Cuív is serious about inputting into the process I will be serious about facilitating it. This is a new process and it has the potential to be abused but I will try to work through it as we go along.