Mr. Aidan O'Driscoll:

I will deal with the last question now. We have had internal discussions on this and the area where there may be an issue is the application of thepro rataand its impact on some farmers. The great majority of farmers who are affected by pro rata will benefit from it, but there could be some farmers whose area will reduce. They will have been informed of their eligible area and now as a result of thepro rata,it may reduce somewhat. Obviously in those cases, we will have to take a reasonable view. We do not try to be unreasonable, presuming we can be reasonable within the terms of the regulation, which I think we can. In that case, I take the Chairman's point.

In respect of the 14 days, while my understanding is that there is no limit on LPIS reviews, I will have it double-checked and will confirm it to the Deputy.

On the question of the over-claims and the amount of the penalty, these issues are complicated for the Department as well as the farmer. We all find it really complicated. I take the Deputy's fundamental point that the farmer wants to know something very simple and we should, as best we can, tell him as clearly as possible. There is one aspect of the Department's communication that I have asked people to consider, that is, to use plain English. Sometimes some of the letters that issue are complicated. There is virtue in expressing them in more straightforward ways. That is something we can do. In all cases, it is not necessarily the case that we can provide the farmer with precisely what he needs to know, given the complexity of what is involved and information that may only be available to him at that point.

I am taking the essence of the point, which is the communication of as clear a message as possible to farmers as to the size and nature of penalties. What I am saying is that this applies not only to penalties but also more widely to communications with individual farmers.