Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the steps she is taking to ensure farmers have notice of all on farm inspections; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8958/07]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
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Question 57: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food when she will issue farmers with a copy of her Department's inspection checklist on cross compliance; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8794/07]

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the number of farm inspections that have been carried out to date in 2007 as compared to the same period in 2006; if these inspections will continue over the coming months in the same manner and in the normal way; the steps she has taken at EU level to give reasonable time in order that the farmer or a representative can be available for such inspections in view of the fact that most farmers have been forced into off farm employment or else are the sole operator on the farm; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8955/07]

Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Agriculture and Food the practical steps she is taking to address the burden of cross compliance on farmers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8802/07]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 39, 57, 74 and 100 together.

My Department is in regular contact with the European Commission with a view to simplification of Single Payment Scheme requirements with particular reference to the arrangements for cross-compliance inspections. I have also raised the matter on a number of occasions with Commissioner Fischer Boel. In this connection the European Commission is currently undertaking a full review of the cross-compliance regime and the results of that review will be presented to the Council of Ministers during April. I have personally met with my German and French counterparts with a view to emphasising the importance of achieving progress on the simplification issue during the German presidency. In tandem with this my Department is carrying out a full review of the inspection arrangements for the Single Payment Scheme with a view to simplification of the arrangements (including paperwork) where possible while, at the same time, ensuring compliance with the regulatory requirements. The review of the forms together with the outcome of the Commission's review of the cross-compliance arrangements generally, will be fully discussed with the farming organisations before the inspections for 2007 get underway.

Insofar as the Department's inspection checklist on cross compliance is concerned, this is an internal checklist used for the 2006 inspections which was made available to the farming organisations and the farmers being inspected. It is not a document for completion by the farmer, but for the inspector of my own Department. This checklist is being reviewed as part of the full review my Department is carrying out on the inspection arrangements for the Single Payment Scheme.

Inspections under the 2007 scheme have not yet commenced. In 2006, 7, 514 farmers had their holdings selected for on-the-spot inspection out of some 130,000 who have applied for the Single Payment Scheme (over 100,000 of these are also applicants for Disadvantaged Areas Scheme). The value of both schemes to Irish farmers is some €1.55 billion in 2006. It should be noted that while 1,414 farmers were subject to cross-compliance penalties under the 2006 Single Payment Scheme, a further 804 farmers, while technically in breach of the requirements, did not suffer any penalty because of the tolerance regime applied by my Department. Indeed breaches of cross-compliance in 2006 resulted in some €722,296.31 being withheld from farmers by way of penalties representing 0.06% of Ireland National ceiling of €1.3 billion. The vast bulk of penalties applied (1,239 farmers) were for breaches of the rules relating to the identification and registration of bovine animals i.e. tagging and registration of births, movements and deaths representing 78.72% of all breaches found. The requirements for the timely tagging and registration of cattle and notifying movements and deaths has been in place for over 10 years.

The policy towards on-farm inspection has been to give advance notification of up to 48 hours in all cases. This policy of systematic pre-announcement of inspections was questioned by the European Commission in July 2006 and its unacceptability was conveyed to my Department in a formal communication in August. As a result my Department was obliged to agree to a proportion of Single Payment Scheme inspections being carried out in 2006 without prior notification. Some 650 farms out of 130,000 involved in the Single Payment Scheme were subsequently selected for unannounced inspection. The balance of inspection cases, representing some 92% of the 7,514 farms selected for Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme inspection in 2006, were all pre-notified to the farmer.

The EU regulations governing the Single Payment Scheme would allow my Department to give pre-notification of inspection in all cases where certain elements of cross-compliance are involved e.g. the Nitrates Regulations. However, my Department is committed, in the Charter of Rights for Farmers 2005-2007 to carrying out all Single Payment Scheme and Disadvantaged Area Scheme checks during one single farm visit in most cases. This then obliges my Department to respect the advance notice requirements applicable to the most stringent element of the inspection regime viz. maximum of 48 hours notice but with no advance notice in a proportion of cases.

My Department believes that pre-notification of Single Payment Scheme/Disadvantaged Areas Scheme inspections fits in with the practicalities of Irish agriculture where increasingly, farmers are also engaged in off-farm employment. In a decoupled Single Payment Scheme system, the provision of advance notification of inspection to the farmer should not negatively impact on the effectiveness of the control. However, as the EU regulations stand, my Department is obliged to carry out a proportion of inspections without prior notification and this is what was done in 2006. My Department is seeking authority to allow advance notification in all inspection cases and I will continue to press this point in the CAP simplification process.