Mr. Tom Canning:

I thank the Senator for the question. To explain, if there is a situation where there is missing information like this and the farmers is excluded from derogation, the penalty is exclusion for two years. We have heard the instances the Senator has heard about of missing soil samples and pages sticking together and those farmers being excluded. The penalty, depending on how heavily or greatly the farmer exceeds his derogation limit, can be between 5% and 20%. The problem is that if they do not get below the 170 kg N/ha limit in the second year, the penalties are trebled. There is a huge financial implication for very simple mistakes. We have had instances where guys have been kicked out of derogation because there was excess poaching with round feeders being used in certain fields. If a farmer is not in derogation, the likely penalty is between 1% and 5%. For a derogation farmer, it is a kick-out of the derogation, as the Senator correctly said, not for a one-year period but two years and the trebling of the penalty in the second year. A very important point is that if your penalties are trebled and they exceed 50%, no support payments are paid in the second year. They average support payments in Ireland are around €15,000. The penalties have to fit the crime.