Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I am just giving the urban perspective. They may or may not be myths, but the perception exists. It worries me because the most frequent error is over-declaration of land area by beneficiaries. Is it cute hoorism, so to speak? There is an urban myth that so-called cute hoorism occurs on an awful scale in rural Ireland. Is it accidental or is it the classic accidentally on purpose declaration, as it were?

Anybody who travels through France can see the miles and miles of clear open fields, with ripe crops everywhere. To be sympathetic to farmers in Ireland, I am a hill walker so I climb many mountains and see a lot of land. There is huge diversity here. The method of production involves small little fields with beautiful walls, hedges and so on. However, the land here varies from thistle infested fields to rocky, low yield fields. Perhaps that complicates the Irish scene, but if we do not have the statistics on who or what countries are the biggest defaulters, or the countries that are generating the most inaccurate claims, we may be criticising Irish agriculture in the wrong light. We might be the masters of the scene. We might be the best, most tolerant, most professional farmers in Europe. Perhaps Mr. Cardiff could answer that for me.

It would be interesting for several reasons to have the comparisons between one country and another. Ireland has been a member of the EU for 40 years, so we should be experts in drawing down funding and dispensing it properly. Other countries, such as Croatia, have only recently been admitted. It would be nice to observe their degree of compliance with the regulations and compare it with a mature country like Ireland, which has been a member for 40 years. That would help me point the finger. If mature countries are being very bold or very inaccurate in how they make their claims on EU funds, there might be a story to be told.

It disappoints me that the court has a hell of a lot of work to do at the end of the term of the Commission due to all this unspent money. There is a terrible system in Ireland - I am sure it exists in Europe as well - where at the end of a budgetary year, the money had better be spent or else it will be forfeited. Is Mr. Cardiff confronting issues like that? As auditors, would it not be better to argue that it be forfeited back into the coffers rather than rushed, misspent or badly or inappropriately spent?