Paul Connaughton (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle’s office for giving me the opportunity to raise this issue. I understand the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine is not available today to take the matter in the Chamber due to a busy schedule.

I am concerned about the publishing of the full details of those receiving single farm payments. I accept it has come about from a decision by the European Commission. My concern is not over transparency or accountability in the payments system as this is European taxpayers’ money being spent. We know from the single farm payment we get job security, food security and food quality.

My concern, however, is from the perspective of rural crime. We will be publishing on a set day the names and addresses of individual farmers receiving X amount of money. That is making it a little too easy for a criminal who might want to pick off someone who lives in an isolated rural area. Ministers and the Department always like to announce when the single farm payments will be paid, as it is a good news story and an event for which the farming community waits. Why do the name and the address of the recipient have to be published? Why not the name and just the county or the herd number and the amount? It must be possible to make it more difficult for criminals.

I have no doubt the ministerial reply will explain how this whole process was arrived at. However, we can be very overzealous in how we implement European Commission rules. Did the Department have an opportunity to say it has an issue with this? This process was to be introduced several years ago but three German farmers stopped it at the time. The European Court of Justice deliberated on it for some time and here we go again. Outside of farming, we have very strict and correct data protection laws. One cannot even make a telephone inquiry about a family member’s health appointment or insurance details because of data protection regulations. In this case, however, we are publishing detailed information about the farmers and the amounts they have received. I cannot understand how that does not run against data protection law. The European Court of Justice certainly thought it did several years ago. We need to be very careful how we set this out.

Were the farming organisations consulted on this? I do not know why we have gone the whole hog in publishing all these names and addresses. The Department is only too well aware of the amounts farmers receive from the scheme, as it is very quick to claw it back when it believes it has overspent. There is a very clear and transparent system there already. Will the Minister go back to the European Commissioner, Phil Hogan, to ensure this information is not as detailed when published to ensure the protection and safety of farmers?

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