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

I wish to finish my response to Deputy Ferris. This is a very difficult issue. I accept many farmers feel very angry and hard-done by in terms of the issue but in the position I am in I only have two alternatives. Either we deal with this as a country through my Department and an appeals process working with farmers on a case-by-case basis to try to get an accurate assessment of what is eligible and what is not, and repay the money that was drawn down on land that was not eligible. Failing that the Commission, which is coming in February to assess the process, will determine a figure of overclaim and it will multiply the figure substantially and apply a fine to this country, just like it has done in France, Italy and the United Kingdom, for very substantial amounts of money. Every farmer will suffer as a result of that. We are trying to address a difficult situation. Simply putting our head in the sand and ignoring it is not an option, nor is it an option to say we will not make retrospective payments because we do not want to do that. We must deal with the retrospection issue and we will try to deal with it as fairly as we can with farmers. Nobody will pay back a cent more than they have to in terms of claiming a payment on land that is not eligible. We will work with farmers on that but, unfortunately, I cannot simply ignore what I am required to do by the European Commission. If I do, the alternative is a much bigger financial loss for farming, collectively.