Farmers are unlikely to face any further penalties from the land eligibility saga, which is finally reaching its endgame.

The penalty was imposed by the EU following an audit of Ireland’s administration of the Land Parcel Identification System. As revealed in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, the fine has been reduced to €63m, payable over three years. The expectation is that a €21m/year penalty can be absorbed by the Department. The 2015 budget estimate for the Department is €1.25bn gross, almost €800m net of Brussels RDP funding.

The original fine of over €180m, if unaltered and applied, would have inevitably affected farmers, whether through a cut in direct payments, reduced programme funding or increased penalties for farmers in breach of eligibility rules.

Farmers currently appealing clawback penalties imposed in 2013-14 are not in line for an amnesty. They will proceed case by case.

The mitigation received by the Department was in large part due to its proactive trawl through every parcel applied on from 2008-12, and the penalties subsequently applied, and Brussels expects that process to be fully concluded. Many other countries had much higher penalties imposed – France must pay over €1bn.

A review of every one of the 900,000 parcels resulted in 26,000 farmers – one in five applicants – being found with land eligibility issues. Initially Minister Coveney indicated that farmers were facing a liability of €20m to €30m. About 18,000 farmers had no penalty, as they submitted more eligible land than entitlements. Around 7,800 farmers had eligibility breaches in the 3% to 20% range – most of these have paid whatever clawback was imposed. Four hundred farmers faced a full 100% fine due to breaches of more than 20%. Most of these are still working their way through the appeals system.

The IFA has already sat down with the Department of Agriculture to discuss the budget estimates for 2016. It is adamant that provision must be made for repayment of the fine without affecting any of the planned spend within the Department’s wide range of programmes.

“The minority of farmers who fell foul of an imperfect system were retrospectively penalised – they have already paid,” said president Eddie Downey.

“The majority of farmers fully complied with all the requirements of the system.”