Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Under the basic payment scheme and other schemes, farmers get particular penalties and must sometimes leave a scheme altogether. Those schemes are administered within the Department. It is not a criminal system and it is not directly comparable to this. This approach is unique in that it is an EU regulation and we have a legal obligation to have a civil penalty points system in place operating alongside a separate criminal system. It is not necessarily that both systems would always conclude but certainly the penalty points would be a stand-alone system.