The severe penalties being imposed by the Department of Agriculture and Food for minor technical infringements are quite disproportionate and do not take account of the fact that the farmers affected never had any fraudulent intention. No doubt, there are those in every EU country who set out to make fraudulent gain and, as it were, beat the system. However, in the vast majority of cases, the benefit withdrawn and penalties imposed on farmers are totally disproportionate to the relatively minor transgressions involved. The Minister for Agriculture and Food has put in place a supposedly independent appeals mechanism which, in reality, is anything but independent. In 90% of cases the appeals board is made up of former Department employees who are quite familiar with many of the cases under appeal, having been involved in processing them in their previous capacity.