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The penalty facing Ireland over a European Commission audit of land eligibility will be much smaller than the previous case settled for €68.9m in 2015, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has told the Irish Farmers Journal.
The state’s financial watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, revealed in February that the Commission was questioning land eligibility for 2017 payments and considering a 5% penalty across BPS, Greening and ANC schemes equivalent to €210m.
IFA deputy president Richard Kennedy later raised the issue with the Department of Agriculture and was told that the fine had been negotiated down to €3.9m.
Financially challenging
“We’re obviously dealing with the current file in that area. I don’t expect it’s anything as financially challenging as the last one,” Minister Creed said, stopping short of confirming a figure. “Farmers know to their cost that the Department is very active in this space and try to make sure that we don’t fall foul of the Commission and don’t end up paying those fines again.”
A newly rebuilt Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) is being rolled out to avoid issues with future EU inspections.
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