Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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351. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine when he appointed the steering committee to manage the review of his Department's inspection regime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33410/17]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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352. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the person he appointed to the steering committee to manage the review of his Department's inspection regime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33411/17]

Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
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353. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the number of persons appointed to the steering committee to manage the review of his Department's inspection regime; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33412/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 351 to 353, inclusive, together.

My Department is obliged under EU regulations to undertake clearly specified number of inspections annually for both eligibility and cross compliance. As required by the EU, cases for inspection are selected by risk analysis, with cases selected both randomly and by risk. The selection process is carried out by headquartered staff using ‘national’ data sets.

The risk categories used take account of the land types, number and scale of enterprises, number of livestock and previous inspection history. The Department is required to review the performance of the risk analysis annually and, where appropriate, to update the risks to be used in the following year.

All of these inspection processes are the subject of detailed regular reviews by EU auditors. 

All inspections are subject to continuous oversight by supervisors and random verification inspections to ensure a consistent approach throughout the country. Compliance by Department officials with inspection commitments set out in the Farmers Charter of Rights, agreed between the Department and the farming organisations, is reviewed regularly by the independently chaired Farmers Charter Monitoring Committee. Furthermore inspections are subject to repeated audits by the European Commission, the European Court of Auditors, the Certifying Body and the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office, to ensure full compliance with the requirements.

I and my Department recognises that farmers can become very concerned about inspections.  For this reason, my Department makes every effort to explain the nature and process of inspections, and the requirements of the EU and national schemes, to farmers.  My Department will be increasing its efforts in this regard and is happy to work with the farm organisations and others in this process.

On the matter of  the appointment of a Steering Committee, the review in question is a  review of the Agriculture Appeals Act 2001, not a review of the Department's inspection regime. This is in line with the commitment given in the Programme for Partnership Government that there would be a review of  the Agriculture Appeals Act 2001 “to ensure the independence and efficiency of the Office in dealing with appeals from farmers”. As I stated last month I intend to establish a Steering Committee to oversee the delivery of the commitment. The Committee will include independent experts.  It is anticipated that the Committee will also invite stakeholder input to the process.  It is expected that the review will be completed by the end of this year.