Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Office of the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important matter for discussion. Recognising the serious financial situation in which farmers find themselves, will the Minister of State consider arranging a payment schedule over a number of years to accommodate those farmers who have been asked to make a repayment as a result of inadvertent over-claiming in respect of various agricultural schemes? In the middle of this year, the farmers in questions became aware through various communications from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food that they had inadvertently over-claimed in respect of, in some cases, very small parcels of land where farm buildings had been built, roads developed or scrub had grown. These errors were identified through the Department's sophisticated mapping system.

Farmers who had claimed such land as forage or as available for grazing were found to have over-claimed, a completely inadvertent error in the majority of cases. In some cases, it was found on appeal that the mistake was on the Department's side. Nevertheless, the obligation to repay the moneys in question has placed a significant burden on the farming community. As I understand it, the sums are accounted back to 2005. In many cases of which I am aware, the sum owing amounts to in excess of €1,000. Moreover, written communications from the Department have been somewhat confusing, with requests for repayment coming in dribs and drabs and an apparent lack of co-ordination. For example, a farmer may receive a bill today seeking repayment in the sum of €70, and another letter tomorrow requesting repayment of a further sum of €250. I have spoken to farmers who have received six or seven such letters.

Will the Minister of State undertake to ensure that every farmer receives a clear communication as to the total over-claim amount? Many farmers may encounter difficulties in discharging the amount due given the difficulties they currently face. As well as an especially poor summer, they are coping with low prices for global commodities such as milk and beef. In addition, decisions the Government has had to implement because of the constrained financial circumstances in which we find ourselves have had an impact. For example, entry to REPS 4 is being discontinued for those farmers leaving REPS 3, and there has been a reduction in the disadvantaged area payment. All these factors have combined to create a difficult and dreadful year for most farmers. For that reason I would ask that special circumstances be put in place and an opportunity be given to farmers to pay back the moneys owed over a period of time. Some farmers still have to go through the appeals process and based on what I have seen already, some will be found not to owe that money. Notwithstanding that, we need to look at the issue.

I ask that the individual farmers be paid in full this year and when the appeals process is over, a deduction of a quarter of the total overpayment be taken back and so on for the following three years until 2013. That would be fair and equitable. It would give farmers an opportunity to make recompense, recognising that it was not a deliberate attempt by them to claim extra money. It was inadvertent due to buildings being placed on the land, or due to roads being constructed, or due to the growth of scrub. An approach like this would be seen as fair. In many cases where the farmer submitted the claim, it was done on the advice of Teagasc, or even prepared by people within Teagasc. I am sure there was no intention on their behalf to overclaim, but it was just a mistake that was detected by the sophisticated mapping system based on satellite photography that the Department has in place.

I ask that leniency be given, allowing for the difficult circumstances in which farmers find themselves, and that a payment schedule be made. Given that the single farm payment runs out in 2013, the payment can be scheduled to fall into line with payments that are forthcoming to farmers, removing the burden on them to pay it this year. While farmers are going through the appeals process at the moment on these overclaims, the payments due to them this year should be made, rather than holding up the entire claim awaiting the appeal.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
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Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Timmy Dooley as an ceist thábhachtach seo a ardú i mo Roinn.

The single farm payment, under which €1.25 billion is paid annually to Irish farmers, is an extremely important scheme not just to the agricultural industry, but to the rural economy as a whole. I am very pleased to confirm that almost €820 million was paid out to over 116,000 farmers in the two days since the issuing of the 70% advance payments commenced.

Under the provisions of the governing EU regulations, payments under the single payment scheme may be made only in respect of eligible land and applicants under the scheme are obliged annually to declare the land parcels that are available to them. Details of the eligible area of the land parcels are recorded on my Department's land parcel identification system. Details of the use and area claimed for each of around one million parcels on the LPIS system are registered and continually monitored by my Department.

In advance of the closing date for the single payment scheme on 15 May each year, my Department sends pre-printed application forms to each applicant and these include a list of parcels declared by the applicant in question the previous year. It is the responsibility of all applicants to ensure that the details in each year's application are accurate. Therefore, applicants are advised of the need to confirm their right to declare such parcels and to make the appropriate deductions to the area of eligible parcels as necessary, such as where a house or other building has been constructed, and to submit maps with their applications to allow accurate deductions to be made. It is also necessary for applicants to exclude ineligible features such as scrub, roadways and so on. Therefore, the LPIS database has to be amended on an ongoing basis to reflect any permanent changes such as parcel boundary changes, addition of new parcels and so on.

The European Commission has recently imposed very significant adjustments - known as corrections - on many member states for not carrying out sufficient checks to ensure that applicants adhere to the regulatory requirements governing the SPS and rural development area-based schemes. Ireland is one of those member states in respect of which the commission services are continuing their audit process. My Department initiated a process whereby the ortho-photos of land parcels declared by applicants were reviewed. If it was deemed that some of the area of the parcels reviewed was ineligible arising from house-sites, farmyards, ponds, trees and scrub, the ineligible areas were deducted from the claimed area and payments in respect of the period 2005 to 2008 were re-calculated.

In the vast majority of cases, the applicants were making sufficient deductions for the ineligible features that my Department digitised from the original parcels, as required under the EU regulations. Therefore, there were no over-payments in these cases. However, cases have been identified where it initially appears that the claimant in question has not made sufficient allowance for ineligible areas, thereby raising the possibility of incorrect payments having been made.

Mindful of the potential financial implications for those farmers facing re-calculations following the identification of apparently ineligible areas, I have put in place a robust appeal system. Individual farmers are advised in writing of the level of overpayment identified and advised of their right of appeal. Receipt of all appeals are initially acknowledged, each individual appeal is thoroughly re-examined and the appellant then advised in writing of the outcome of the appeal. Should the farmer not be satisfied with the outcome of the appeal, there is the option to have the case further reviewed by a more senior official. Ultimately, the appellant has the further option to appeal to the Agriculture Appeals Office.

If the farmer so wishes, my Department will arrange to have the parcel subject to the reduction inspected by an official to confirm that the Department's decision is valid, or to make any change to that decision deemed necessary. In addition, if the Department's original decision is altered, any moneys paid by the farmers involved or offset against subsequent payments will be refunded immediately to them.

These schemes are fully and partially funded by the European Union. The relevant competent authorities in each member state are obliged to ensure that the requirements of the governing EU regulations are observed and that only valid applications that fully comply with the requirements are paid. The administration of these schemes in each member state is subjected to close scrutiny by officials of the European Commission and the EU Court of Auditors to ensure that the regulatory requirements are met, and that the schemes are applied in a uniform manner across the European Union.