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The case of a farmer unable to transfer his GLAS contract after being forced to stop working by illness was among 93 complaints made to the Ombudsman against the Department of Agriculture last year.
The man had been certified as medically unfit to work and wanted to lease out his farm, according to details of the case highlighted in the Ombudsman's annual report.
The farmer wanted to transfer his GLAS contract to the person leasing his farm, but the Department said he could only transfer the contract to a member of his family.
GLAS rules
The Ombudsman found in GLAS rules that “contracts are non-transferable except in the case of: 1. Certified serious illness; 2. The transfer of an entire holding subject to prior approval of the Department; 3. Death of the participant”.
"As the man had a certified serious illness, it appeared that he met the conditions necessary to transfer his contract," the annual report adds.
Following intervention by the Ombudsman, the Department allowed the GLAS contract transfer.
Complaints
This was one of 93 complaints received by the Ombudsman against the Department of Agriculture in 2018.
That year, 50 complaints were not upheld and 18 were upheld or partially upheld.
Four were outside the Ombudsman's remit, three were withdrawn and the Ombudsman provided assistance to the complainant in another three.
Seven were discontinued because they were premature, but may come back before the Ombudsman if the complainant does not resolve their dispute with the Department first.
The Department of Agriculture was the target of the third-largest group of complaints to the Ombudsman among Government departments and offices, after the Department of Employment Affairs and Social protection, and the Revenue Commissioners.
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