Michael Mullins (Fine Gael)

I, too, welcome the Minister, although I understood the Minister of Agriculture, Food and the Marine was to take this matter. I want to make it clear that the issues I am raising predate his appointment as Minister, but obviously he has inherited the problem.

I want to discuss the findings of departmental officials with regard to the forage area of commonage lands in Keelderry, County Galway, which are similar to thousands of hectares of land from County Donegal to County Kerry. The land in question is located in a special area of conservation for birds and being farmed in compliance with the commonage framework plan, the REPS and National Parks and Wildlife Service guidelines.

An inspection involving an officer of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and a supervisor took place on 14 October 2010. In his report dated 15 October 2010 the officer states he found no forage and the supervisor agreed with his conclusion. This was in spite of the fact that the same officer had granted a forage figure of over 90% on similar land nearby. A point to note about this area is that the adjoining commonages all have a forage reference area in excess of 95%, and this land is no different. The last line of the official's report states he concurs with the findings of two colleagues who did not write their reports until one week later, 21 and 22 October 2010. The Minister will agree this is impossible and evidence of a conspiracy and a vendetta by departmental staff.

In the reports it is acknowledged that there were horses grazing on the land, yet the forage area was given as nil. The question then arises as to what the horses were grazing on. In February 2011 an area superintendent reinspected the land and allowed a forage area of 10%. There are no varying degrees of agricultural activity in the terms and conditions of the scheme concerned and it is incredible that they could not understand this at the time. It was only in July 2011 that staff in the Galway office discovered this and, as a result, all staff were called to a meeting to clarify the position. In a mix-up of geographical work areas, two other officers who were on a temporary transfer from another section were instructed by their supervisor to carry out an inspection on the same lands. The results were dramatically different. All independent advice clearly confirms that these officers carried out their inspections as per the 2010 commonage inspection guidelines and their findings are correct.

I understand that following a freedom of information request in May 2011 two senior officials visited the place of work of these two officers. The purpose of the visit was to coerce them into agreeing that they had carried out an unauthorised inspection in order that their file would not be released in response to the FOI request. This they refused to do. I compliment them on their integrity and honour in taking this action.

The Department persisted in withholding this part of the file, although it was subsequently released after the intervention of the Ombudsman. As the Minister is aware, this is a criminal offence and I call on him to have the matter investigated. I understand that when the issue was raised with him by Deputy Noel Coonan, he ordered an investigation. However, one member of the investigation team is the same area superintendent who has already made a decision in this matter and is desperately trying to uphold it, even though it totally contradicts the terms and conditions of the scheme. I put it to the Minister that, in breach of fair procedures, natural and constitutional justice, the Department failed to perform an independent investigation by allowing an area superintendent - as well as staff from his own section within the Department - to investigate his own work, thereby depriving the applicants and the staff who were on a temporary transfer to his section of a fair and reasonable investigation. The only parties who have been subject to investigation are the officers who carried out an authorised inspection and produced an accurate report.

This raises the question of how staff members who are unable to recognise forage land, who acknowledge that stock are grazing on the land, yet confirm the forage area to be nil, can justifiably continue to carry out work of this nature, given their clear inability to understand the meaning of the terms and conditions of the scheme. In a desperate attempt to deflect attention away from the core issue of forage availability, the investigation has been extended to the grants paid to the farmers concerned for buildings and under the REPS and other schemes in the past ten years. These actions and omissions by the Department's staff represent an abuse of power, harassment, intimidation, bullying and deliberate embarrassment of legitimate applicants and members of its own staff. A number of the landowners have never received any communication from the Department, while others received no replies to letters of query. An appeal was lodged with the independent appeals office in July 2011 but has met with frustration, delay and unjust impediment, the result of which is that the appeal has not been heard in an expedient manner, as the applicants are entitled to. I put it to the Minister that the reason for this behaviour on the part of his Department is to prevent the appeal from being heard, which results, again, in a deprivation of natural justice for those concerned.

At this late stage I emphasise the urgency and importance of rectifying the behaviour of the Department which amounts to an attempt to pervert the course of justice by its staff. In the light of this, I urge the Minister to take immediate action to rectify this unconscionable behaviour by members of his Department in manipulating the appeals process to prevent dignity, integrity and justice from reaching the applicants. Many farmers have lost huge amounts of money as a result of this action. I ask the Minister to have the matter investigated and brought to a satisfactory conclusion as a matter of urgency.