Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach's office for choosing this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, to the Chamber although I must express my disappointment that there are three Ministers in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, none of whom are here this morning.

Keelderry commonage in east Galway has eight shareholders. An inspection in 2010 found 0% eligibility for farm payments. That is 0% in terms of forage. No control report for the inspection took place. One shareholder was notified of the results of both inspections, and following his request that the findings be reviewed, the eligible area was increased to 10%. The Agriculture Appeals Office upheld this decision. No other shareholder was notified of the inspection findings nor afforded the opportunity to appeal. As I said, no control report for either inspection was issued.

In response to a parliamentary question in 2021, the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, stated "every on-the-spot check for land eligibility and area based scheme requirements should be the subject of a control report as detailed in Article 41 of Commission Regulation (EU) No 809/2014". A further question was put to the European Parliament on 25 October 2020. The response stated "In addition, the beneficiary shall be given the opportunity to sign the report and add observations, even electronically, before the competent authority draws its conclusions for payment processing." The response went on to state "The absence of control report could indicate a breach of EU legislation."

Roll on to 2012, when a second shareholder had an inspection on his farm. The commonage was also inspected by different Department personnel on the same day. Again, no control report was issued for either inspection. The commonage eligibility was raised to approximately 12% at this inspection. He appealed the findings to the agricultural appeals officer, who said he could not accept the Department figure and found in favour of the shareholder in August 2015. The Department ignored the decision and appealed the findings to the director of the appeals board. In February and March 2013, other shareholders were notified of the findings of this inspection and were told that if they did not accept these figures, they would be penalised going forward. One shareholder was not notified of the findings at the time. The director of appeals upheld the decision of the appeals officer in September 2016 and the Department ignored this decision. Two shareholders issued proceedings for a judicial review in early 2017 and it was heard in 2018. A senior inspector gave a false sworn affidavit, which was the subject of the judicial review. The letter that was sent to other shareholders in 2013 outlining the findings of the 2012 inspection was never sent to one of the shareholders. During the appeal hearing, it was pointed out that there was an inconsistent approach taken at the Department with regard to other regional commonages in the Kildare area. After this appeal was made, the Department's staff attempted to reduce the eligibility of its surrounding commonages. It is clear that there was an action taken to justify the incorrect actions previously employed with regard to the Keelderry commonage. These changes to eligibility were withdraw by the Department when faced by the threat of a judicial review by the shareholders of these commonages, but it still persisted with the Keelderry findings.

In October 2013, a senior inspector prepared a report after inspecting the Keelderry commonage and without any shareholder being notified of an inspection or being afforded the opportunity to sign a control report. This report was used by the independent appeals board in January 2014 when carrying out an inspection ordered by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. This report only became available to the shareholders in April 2016 following a court order. It had been withdrawn under previous freedom of information, FOI, requests.

What we have seen is a catalogue of issues, delays and procrastination with regard to the inspection of the Keelderry Commonage, and the shareholders are the people who were impacted. In March and July 2017, a Department official from another county inspected the-----