Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 July 2018

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Report of the Agriculture Appeals Act Review Committee: Discussion

3:30 pm

Dr. Kevin Smyth:

Reference was made to the need for common sense around the systems and the schemes. I totally agree with this point but the reason we have an appeal system is that when mistakes are made there must be a way of rectifying it. There are three levels of appeal at the moment: the internal review; the appeals officer; and the director of appeals. At the moment there are some 40 cases going to the director of appeals per year. It has increased in the last couple of years. It was between 17 and 20 but it is now up to 40 cases.

One of the reasons the report should be welcomed is because I believe we should be putting in place mechanisms to assist the director in dealing with this matter and I believe the panel will be of assistance. We might also consider the remit of the deputy director, in terms of reducing the workload of the director.