Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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81. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason for significant penalties being applied in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork over consecutive years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38362/14]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The person named submitted a 2013 Single Farm Payment /Disadvantaged Areas’ scheme application on 15 May 2013. In order to comply with EU requirements, the application of the person named was selected for a ground eligibility inspection.

This inspection identified discrepancies between the area declared and the area found resulting in an over-declaration in area of greater than 50% under both the Single Farm Payment and the Disadvantaged Areas’ schemes. Based on the Terms and Conditions of these schemes, this resulted in no payments issuing in respect of 2013 and the application of administrative fines to be offset against any future EU payments. The person named was notified of this decision on 21 October 2013.

The person named has appealed th is decision and this request is currently being examined. The person named will be notified of the outcome of this review as soon as possible. In the event that the person named is dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, the decision can be appealed to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office, within 3 months.

While additional inspections were undertaken on the holding of the person named in previous years in relation to cattle identification and registration requirements, these inspections did not result in any penalties being applied under the Single Farm Payment and Disadvantaged Areas’ schemes.