The number of cross-compliance inspections carried out by the Department of Agriculture and the selection of farms for inspection are both regulated by EU law, the Department told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Inspection must be carried out on at least 1% of farmers to whom the Statutory Management Requirements (SMRs) and the standards for Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) apply.

Three per cent of farmers must be inspected under the bovine identification and registration requirements.

Three per cent of sheep and goat farmers must be inspected, covering 5% of the flock.

Nitrates

In addition, the Department carries out some 1,650 nitrates inspections annually on behalf of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government.

Farmers are selected for inspection by risk analysis, with cases selected on a risk and random basis, it said. The risk categories used take account of the land types, number and scale of enterprises, number of livestock and previous inspection history.

Cases selected within each risk category are selected randomly from the available populations.

The Department of Agriculture said: “The selection process is carried out by headquarters staff using various national data sets.

“Local office staff have no involvement in the selection process. The selection process must meet the EU regulatory requirements and is subject to EU audit.

“The Department is required to review the performance of the risk analysis process annually and, where appropriate, to update the risks to be used in the following year.”

Where Cross Compliance requirement breaches are identified by other areas within the Department or by outside agencies, the EU rules require that such non-compliances are cross-reported to the Department for examination and, if necessary, penalties.

Examples of such outside agencies include the National Parks and Wildlife Service and county councils.

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