Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 20 February 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Coastal Farm Holdings: Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

11:15 am

Dr. Kevin Smyth:

That depends on the weakness that the Commission finds in the system. It often does, and it has been the norm up to recently to apply a flat rate correction. The European Court of Auditors does not agree with this approach and views it as being very unfair to member states. Its opinion is that the risk to the fund should be quantified and that one should say "No, the risk is actually 0.7%". That is the risk involved if one adopts the approach mentioned by the Deputy.