Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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581. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of a penalty by a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12791/20]

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Under the Terms and Conditions of the Basic Payment Scheme, an applicant, as well as meeting the scheme criteria, must comply with EU regulatory requirements relating to Cross Compliance.

A report detailing findings of a check carried out by my Department's Agri Environment Structures Division on 29 March 2019 was referred to my Department's Cross Compliance Unit for attention.  This report detailed breaches relating to the cross compliance requirements in respect of Statutory Management Requirement (SMR) 1, which relates to Nitrates.

The breaches resulted in a 20% penalty being applied against the 2019 Direct Schemes payments. The person named was notified of this decision on 9 August 2019 and of their right to seek a review of the findings. A review was sought and the outcome was to uphold to the original decsision. The person named was notified of this decision by letter on 15 June 2020.

If the person named is dissatified with the outcome of this review, the decision can be appealed to the independent Agriculture Appeals Office, within 3 months of the date of the review outcome letter.