Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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320. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when an appeal against a cross compliance penalty in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Mayo will be finalised. [48234/14]

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 8 May 2013 .EU Regulations governing the administration of these schemes require that full and comprehensive administrative checks, including in some cases on-farm inspections, be completed before any payments issue. The application of the person named was selected for a ground eligibility inspection and a Bovine Identification and Registration (IDR) requirementsinspection.

The Bovine IDR inspection identified no non-compliances with the regulatory requirements.

The ground eligibility inspection identified discrepancies between the areas declared and the area found resulting in an over-declaration in area of greater than 50%.Based on the terms and conditions of the scheme this resulted in no payment in respect of the 2013 Single Payment Scheme and the application of an administrative fine to be offset against any future EU payments. The person named was notified of this decision on 22 January 2014.

The person named sought a review of this decision and the outcome, which was to uphold the original decision, was notified by letter of 7 April 2014.

The person named has appealed this decision to the independent Agricultural Appeals Office and it is expected that an oral hearing will be heard in early 2015 . The person named will be notified of the outcome of the appeal on completion of the appeals process.

In the event that the person named considers that they have been treated unfairly by the Appeals Office they can raise the matter with the Office of the Ombudsman.