Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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338. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of money clawed back from farmers in disallowances and penalties arising from the land parcel identification system reviews from 2008 to 2013; if this money was a saving to the Exchequer; if it will now be offset against the penalty of €69 imposed on Ireland for over-claims under the system for the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35993/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that on 24 July 2015 the EU Commission advised my Department of their intention to exclude a total of approximately €67.6 million from EU funding of various agricultural Direct Payment schemes for the seven year period from 2008 to 2014. This represents 0.6% of the €12 billion in EU funding for these schemes in this seven year period.

  The proposal consists of two elements - €64 million exclusion for the period 2008-2012 and €3.6 million for the period 2013-2014. It must be noted that there is a decrease of almost 86% in the average annual level of correction for the 2013-2014 period relative to the correction for the 2008-2012 period.

This proposal, which concludes the Clearance of Accounts process for the complete Single Payment Scheme, comes further to a prolonged process of intensive communication and effort by my Department and is a significant reduction from the original proposed exclusion of €181 million. This outcome reflects positively on the work done in my Department and the very detailed case presented to the Commission in strong opposition to the original proposal, including the examination of over 900,000 land parcels throughout the country. 

This outcome clearly illustrates the very positive impact of the 2013 LPIS review carried out by my Department, which identified ineligible lands and features incorrectly claimed by farmers during the scheme period 2008-2012. To date, this has resulted in the collection of €1 million in disallowances in 2013 and €3 million in disallowances in 2014.

The Commission proposal will now go forward to the Committee on the Agricultural Funds for consultation before the Commission makes a final decision, which is expected by mid to late November. The proposal, which is a complex and detailed document, is being scrutinised by my Department and discussions are currently ongoing in relation to the necessary funding with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.