Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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941. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the reason the debt recovery section of his Department is permitted to impose interest rate charges on moneys it is seeking to recoup as a result of overpayments or fines in view of the fact that it is not licensed by the Central Bank; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46623/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is obliged to charge interest on overpayments in accordance with Article 27 (1) of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 908/2014 of 6 August 2014 which states that "the interest on undue payments to be recovered as a consequence of irregularity or negligence, shall be calculated for the period elapsing between the expiry of the payment deadline for the beneficiary indicated in the recovery order and the date of the repayment or deduction". Article 27 (2) of the same regulation further states that "the interest rate to be applied shall in any case not be lower than the interest rate provided for by national law for the recovery of comparable undue expenditures or for the collection of receivables due". The interest rate currently in operation is 3% as set down in Statutory Instrument 13/2006 - European Communities (Recovery of Amounts) (Amendment) Regulations 2006.