He made reference to the stress felt by farmers around inspections and said the new charter “must remove the unnecessary stress for farm families associated with farm inspections and ensure that farmers are treated with respect.”

The new charter is currently under negotiation with the Department of Agriculture and the IFA has put forward detailed submissions to the Department setting out farmer demands across all the areas the charter will cover.

Unannounced inspections

The issue of unannounced farm inspections was addressed in the Dáil this week by Minister Coveney. He said the Department of Agriculture is obliged to carry out on-the-spot inspections on farms in order to check eligibility under the Direct Payment Scheme and Rural Development Measures, as set down in EU legislation.

The Minister added that rules regarding the advance notification of inspections are clearly laid down in the governing EU regulations and must be adhered to by officials in the Department of Agriculture.

He also said that where it is considered that the purpose or effectiveness of any type of inspection may be jeopardised by giving notice, the inspection will take place on an unannounced basis.