Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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358. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the location in the EU Court of Auditors report of 22 December 2006 in which it states that the consolidation process of 150,000 ha as implemented by his Department was entirely in accordance with EU regulations and has been endorsed as such. [43729/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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The EU Court of Auditors report of 22 December 2006, to which the Deputy refers, was an initial letter of findings following an audit. It is normal for mention to be made of possible liabilities in the C&AG report for each year. In this case, the contingent liability was some €60m.

During an audit, it is customary that there are many initial findings at the beginning of the auditing process. These initial findings are then subject to further discussion. Some of these findings remain and others are found to be non-issues; the consolidation process within Ireland under the Single Payment Scheme was one such item.