Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

There is a great deal in the Minister's report. I do not know if this relates to the CAP negotiations but there should be discussions with farmers before their areas are designated special areas of conservation, SACs, as this can tear the bottom out of the local farming industry.

The final point I wish to make is a criticism. Regardless of what grant system is in place, if it is one in which people are owed money since last December and still have not received it, there is something very wrong with it. A number of farmers have received bills for over-payments of area aid payments that were paid to them. Apparently, there was a miscalculation by the Department and it sent out bills asking farmers to repay the money. The farmers were told that if the money was not repaid within a month, penalty interest would apply. Most of the cases I am aware of involved small amounts. I deal with small farmers. However, what if the same system applied to the Department, which is holding up some payments since last December? The payments run to many thousands of euro for some of the same small farmers. It is unfair of the Department to expect a small farmer to pay penal interest when the Department is not penalised even though grants due since God knows when are still unpaid.

See this speech in context