Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

If I had had a chance to finish my reply, the last sentence is that I regret the delay in responding to the Deputy's detailed query. However, the Deputy sought a great deal of information and it took time to put it together. It involved gathering information from every county. The written reply contains a very detailed and comprehensive set of data in response to all the questions the Deputy asked. I will not read it out but I have looked through it and I hope the Deputy will not see any inconsistencies between different counties and that the number of inspections are as they should be in terms of the minimum number we are required to undertake.

We are talking about payments of approximately €1.8 billion per year. With that level of payment, which is predominantly from EU funds, there is an obligation on us to play by the rules with regard to the number of inspections laid down in the regulations that states are required to implement to draw down funds. If we do not do this, disallowances will be applied to Ireland. That is where the EU Commission asks for its money back. Every state must give a certain amount of money back each year on disallowances because after the EU audits how the schemes are monitored and the funds are distributed, it asks for its money back in many cases. In most years there is some level of disallowance payments to be paid back and sometimes these involve huge sums of money. It is not by choice, therefore, that we have this level of inspections. We are required to do it to draw down the level of funding we distribute among farmers.

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