Farmers were hit with €4.4m in penalties in 2014 under the Single Farm Payment scheme and Disadvantaged Areas Scheme.

In response to a parliamentary question from Deputy Denis Naughten, Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said 3,387 farmers were hit with penalties of €3.3m in relation to their Single Farm Payment in 2014.

Nearly 6,000 farmers were penalised a total of €1.1m under the Disadvantaged Area Scheme.

It meant the average hit for each farmer penalised was €859 under the SFP and €194 under the DAS. Looking at the figures on a county breakdown, 455 Cork farmers were penalised, with 381 farmers in Galway. The 96 farmers hit in Waterford suffered the biggest cuts of €1,867 on average.

The percentage of farmers penalised under SFP in each county ranges from 2.4% to 4.3%.

The cuts under DAS were smaller, but nearly 6,000 farmers were penalised.

In Galway and Mayo over 700 farmers were penalised, and the cuts varied from €93 to €276 per farmer. When looked at in the context of all farmers in each county, the percentage penalised varied from 1.1% in Kildare to a high of 7.1% in Leitrim.