Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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242. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has made a decision on an appeal of a decision on a non-compliance penalty by a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45849/15]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The penalty applied under the 2015 Direct Payment Schemes relates to breaches of Cross Compliance requirements. Under the Terms and Conditions of the Direct Payment Schemes, an applicant as well as meeting the Scheme criteria is required to comply with EU regulatory requirements relating to Cross Compliance.

A report detailing findings of an inspection carried out by Kerry County Council on 18 June 2015 was referred to my Department’s Cross Compliance Unit for attention. This report detailed breaches of the cross compliance requirements under the Nitrates Regulations and related to the spreading of slurry close to the water intake of a drinking water treatment plant. The breaches resulted in a 5% penalty being applied against the 2015 Direct Schemes payments.

The person named was notified of this decision on 15 September 2015. The person named has appealed this decision. This review is currently being examined and is nearing completion. The person named will be notified of the outcome 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.