Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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283. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if farmers who had land destroyed by the recent storms or swept away by the sea or have land that is flooded or had fences destroyed or had boulders thrown on their land or in any other way are not in compliance with the conditions of either the disadvantaged areas scheme, single farm payment, REP scheme or AEOS will be exempt from penalty for this non-compliance if inspected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2057/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department, in the context of delivering the Single Payment Scheme, Disadvantaged Areas’ Scheme and other area based schemes, is required to carry out annual inspections covering both the eligibility of the land declared to draw down payments and also cross compliance aspects, to ensure compliance with EU regulatory requirements in the areas of public, animal and plant health, environment and animal welfare.

In carrying out these inspections, which must be carried out to a standard which meets EU audit requirements in order to protect the draw-down of the significant funding involved, and in addition, every effort is made to take account of the realities of farming including weather conditions such as the damage caused by recent storms. Each case will be examined on its individual merits and in instances of non-compliance Departmental officials do have leeway to apply “force majeure” or exceptional circumstances where events have occurred that are beyond the farmer’s control.