Mr. Paul Smyth:

There are probably two issues that could help. The first is that in the case of a record or form that has not been submitted by an agent, for instance, if a record 3 movement had been submitted in a previous year, reminders should be given within a certain timeframe of it coming up, before it even gets to the appeals section. More work could be done on reminders. The form must usually be in by the end of October. If it has not been submitted by the last week in October, a reminder should be sent out. I know it would not be perfect every time but it might help to reduce the number of appeals.

The other issue is that the review panel will ultimately deal with many of the agent issues with regard to work that perhaps was not submitted or was submitted and got lost. This is where the farmer representative on the appeals panel will be able to look at the merits of a case. Every case will be different. It will be very hard to legislate for it. If we have more practical experience on the appeal board and review panel, it will make it much easier for a correct decision to be made.