Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 93: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food her views on the rejection by farm organisations of a proposed system of penalty points for non-compliance with animal registration and identification regulations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14170/05]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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In general, the rate of on-farm inspection required for cross-compliance under the single payment scheme is 1% of those farmers to whom the relevant statutory management requirement or good agricultural and environmental conditions apply. However, at least 5% of producers must be inspected under the animal identification and registration requirements as this level is prescribed under the relevant EU regulations.

In addition to cross-compliance checks, it is a requirement to carry out standard eligibility checks to verify that the actual area claimed in the single payment application form corresponds with the area held by the farmer and to ensure that there are no overlapping or duplication of parcels claimed.

The EU directives and regulations referred to in cross-compliance are in place for many years now. Producers are generally familiar with them and are complying with the standards set in implementing them in Ireland.

My Department prepared a consultative document on cross-compliance in October 2004 and invited views from interested organisations. Department officials met the main farming organisations in December 2004 to discuss their submissions. An information booklet on cross-compliance has been issued to all farmers and it sets out the principle features of cross-compliance both in terms of the standards that must be met by farmers and the control arrangements that will be necessary. To coincide with the issue of the booklet, a series of countrywide farmer information meetings organised by my Department in conjunction with Teagasc, took place in early April. These meetings focused not only on cross-compliance but also addressed the various other issues associated with the introduction of the single payment scheme.

In implementing the single payment scheme, I am aiming to minimise the number of inspection visits and to move towards a situation where, in most cases, all eligibility and cross-compliance checks will be carried out during a single farm visit. It is envisaged that the 22,000 or so inspections, which were carried under the old regime, will be significantly reduced to some 10,000 under the single payment scheme. This approach should minimise the level of inconvenience to farmers.

The EU regulations governing the cross-compliance sanctions system sets out a range of percentage reductions. For infringement of a legal standard, a 3% reduction is proposed but this could be reduced to 1% or increased to 5% depending on the extent, severity and permanence of the infringement. If the non-compliance were repeated a multiplier of three must be applied. In the case of intentional infringement, a 20% reduction is proposed but this could be reduced to 15% or increased to 100% depending on the extent, severity and permanence of the infringement.

My Department has recently been engaged in intensive negotiations with the farming bodies on the implementation of cross-compliance under the single payment scheme in the context of drawing up a new protocol on the delivery of all of my Department's schemes and services to farmers.

My Department regards the following principles as being central to the implementation of a sanctions system under the single payment scheme: procedures are fair, equitable, proportional and transparent; the system is standardised to the maximum extent possible across all areas of the country; and the client's rights are protected.

To achieve these objectives, it is necessary to put in place mechanisms that will take due account of whether any non-compliance found is: on its own minor in nature; negligent; or intentional. During the negotiations on the protocol, my Department tabled a paper outlining its proposals including a system of weightings to be applied for infringements of the statutory management requirements with due tolerances for minor infringements which, on their own, are regarded as inadvertent breaches capable of occurring in practical farm situations. The system has become know as the penalty points system. While some of the farming organisations were initially reluctant to accept the Department's proposals it is premature to suggest that agreement cannot be reached.