Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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625. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the increase in the number of backdated penalties being levied on farmers relating to historic discrepancies (details supplied); if he accepts that in difficult times his Department’s resources could be better utilised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36668/13]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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In the context of delivering the Single Payment Scheme and other area based schemes, my Department is required to carry out an annual round of inspections covering both the eligibility of the land declared by farmers to drawdown payments and also Cross Compliance checks relating to 18 Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) in the areas of public, animal and public health, environment and animal welfare and Good Agricultural Environment Condition to ensure compliance with EU regulatory requirements. In order to be eligible to draw down EU funding, it is a requirement that all land eligibility inspections must take place before any payments can issue to any farmer in the country in a given year. While cross compliance inspections can be carried out after payment has been made, it is a regulatory requirement that this category of inspection must take place throughout the calendar year to take account of specific requirements at individual Statutory Management Requirement level.

SMR 4 relates to Nitrates and specifically the requirements of EU regulations on Good Agricultural Practice for the Protection of Waters. It is a requirement of these regulations that specific records must be maintained and made available for inspection for a period of five years. The inspection process for SMR 4 involves an inspection of the holding in the first instance and a follow-on office check of the records, which farmers are requested to submit within 14 days of the inspection. The checking of these nitrates records is an integral part of the overall inspection process for SMR 4 and failure to complete such checks would result in adverse audit findings, putting at risk the significant EU funding available for these schemes. While every effort is made to complete the office checking of these records in a timely manner, priority must be given to the completion of the eligibility inspections so as to allow payments to issue to farmers and the cross compliance inspections to ensure regulatory requirements are being complied with.