Written answers

Tuesday, 31 March 2015

Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Land Parcel Identification System

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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316. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of the fine imposed on Ireland by the European Union in relation to the land parcel identification system; the progress made to date on getting this reduced; the total imposed on farmers for over-declaration of land in the past three years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12885/15]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The EU Commission in its letter dated 14 May 2014, proposed a 2% flat rate financial correction for Ireland of €181.5 million arising from its Conformity Clearance audits in 2009, 2010 and 2012. The payments audited covered the period from 2008 to 2012 during which over €9 billion was paid to farmers in Ireland under the Direct Payment Schemes. I have always been opposed to the imposition of flat rate penalties and particularly so in this case. I have strongly refuted the application of this proposed correction as disproportionate to the true level of risk involved and on this basis my Department sought a hearing with the Conciliation Body.

Officials from my Department met with the Conciliation Body on 10 December 2014. At the Conciliation Hearing, my Department outlined Ireland’s fundamental objection to the flat rate correction and argued that the risk to the Fund should be a calculated amount. My officials informed the Body regarding the amount of work undertaken by my Department to identify and remove all ineligible features from the LPIS database, the technical improvement in the LPIS system and the time and resources used by my Department to address all issues raised by the Commission.

The Conciliation Body acknowledged the amount of work done by my Department over such a short period of time and expressed the opinion that the issues with the Commission hinged on only a few, though important, elements of this work.

The Conciliation Body report concluded that conciliation seemed within reach and that the two parties should continue discussing the matter with a view to an agreed settlement. On foot of this my Department has maintained contact with the Commission with a view to bringing the matter to a conclusion and further work has recently been carried out to quantify the level of risk to EU funds and this information is with the Commission. To date, approximately €4 million has been collected from those applicants who included ineligible areas and features in their declarations.

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