Margaret Peters, the

Disadvantaged Farmers

Legal Challenge Group

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DEAR SIR: Disadvantaged Farmers Legal Challenge Group seeks clarification on recent Irish Farmers Journal articles.

These articles lifted spirits of farming families nationwide. They stated that the land eligibility fine for weaknesses in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) has been greatly reduced and will be absorbed by the Department of Agriculture.

To many readers, it appeared that their worries and stress regarding the cuts and penalties on Single Farm Payments was over.

These cuts caused a huge financial strain and placed a heavy psychological burden on many farming families.

However, where it brought great relief and hope for thousands of farmers, it still leaves questions about how the Department of Agriculture intends to tackle unresolved land eligibility issues from previous years, where farmers were cut and penalised, many of them due to no fault of their own.

The Disadvantaged Farmers Legal Challenge Group would like to point out that the weaknesses in the LPIS as mentioned in the Irish Farmers Journal were not caused by the farmers, who did not intentionally over-claim their land, but submitted their paperwork in good faith. Furthermore, the articles also states that this fine will be absorbed by the Department of Agriculture.

However, when looking at the amount of land parcels reviewed and the ones which had cuts and penalties imposed in 2013 and 2014 under the Single Payment Scheme, it would appear that a large portion of this fine has already been collected through penalising farmers on disadvantaged land.

The Irish Farmers Journal article from 1 August 2015 states that farmers fell foul of an imperfect system and that the cuts and penalties imposed on them were due to their non-compliance. The Disadvantaged Farmers Legal Challenge Group strongly disagrees.

Many of the farmers who suffered savage cuts were not at fault, but fully compliant with regulations and eligibility guidelines.

The Disadvantaged Farmers Legal Challenge Group would like clarification on these issues and is calling for an official statement from the Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney.

The group believes that the cost of processing eligibility issues concerning tens of thousands of land parcels will likely exceed the total amount of fines imposed on some of the most vulnerable farming families in Ireland.

The group would therefore respectfully request Minister Coveney to abolish these fines and wipe the slate clean for all affected farming families.

In the meantime, the Disadvantaged Farmers Legal Challenge Group has stated that it will continue to fight for the farmers who have suffered injustice.

If their cuts and penalties and retrospective fines from 2013 are not reversed, the group will proceed with its plan to take legal action against the Department of Agriculture.