The man complained to the Ombudsman that the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine had rejected his application for participation in the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme (REPS) and assessed an overpayment of over €50,000 against him.

The man had originally been admitted to REPS but following inspection by the Department it was found that there were deficiencies in the organic fertiliser storage capacity on his holding.

The man supplied details of his wife’s ill health and also the presence of Johne’s disease in his herd

Under REPS, the predecessor to GLAS, there was a requirement to have adequate storage capacity in place by the first winter, and the man had failed to comply with this condition.

Exceptional circumstances

The Ombudsman advised the man that the Department could sometimes consider exceptional circumstances (force majeure).

Therefore the man supplied details of his wife’s ill health and also the presence of Johne’s disease in his herd. He said the cattle could not be sold as a result and had to be kept on the farm, overwhelming his storage capacity.

The Ombudsman put these points to the Department and asked if it would review its decision.

However, the Department rejected both arguments on the grounds that a force majeure must be notified to it within ten working days of an applicant becoming aware of it.

In addition, the man’s wife was not one of the three applicants for REPS. In relation to the presence of disease in the herd, the Department supplied evidence that apart from one year in the period 2008-2016, there was constant movement of cattle off the farm.

Therefore the Ombudsman concluded that the Department had acted correctly.

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