Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That type of practice is unhelpful.

The Minister referred to mapping. I came across the case of a farmer who had an overclaim of 0.09 hectares on one plot and 0.01 hectares on another, amounting to 0.1 hectare in total. The penalty that has been imposed on him is €258 per year, multiplied by five years, which works out at €12,900 a hectare. This individual claims that some of the land is forage area and, as such, he intends to appeal the penalty. Already, however, the Department, for the sake of 0.1 of a hectare, has deducted €516 from his payment under the disadvantaged area scheme. In other words, he is left with no disadvantaged area scheme payment. A penalty of almost €13,000 for getting it wrong by 0.1 of a hectare seems bizarre.