The Department of Agriculture penalised a woman for having a dormant herd number when she was participating in the REPS scheme. The €1,722.30 was applied after an inspection on her stud farm. However, the woman appealed the penalty.

She provided documentation to the Agriculture Appeals Office which showed that a different division within the Department of Agriculture used her herd number in correspondence with her. She argued that this was evidence that the herd number was active, but the appeal was disallowed.

Form G

“The Department accepted that the herd number was active but this led to only a partial refund as the Department maintained that the woman did not send it some paperwork, specifically a Form G in advance of moving livestock owned by others to graze on to the woman’s land,” Ombudsman Peter Tyrell said in his Casebook.

However, a Form G is only required when cattle are being moved to a holding that does not have an active herd number. A division of the Department accepted that she did have an active herd number so the Ombudsman asked for the decision to be reviewed.

“The core issue in this complaint was that one arm of the Department deemed the herd number active but the REPS division had considered it inactive which led to the financial penalties,” the Ombudsman said.

The Department agreed to review its decision and revised it in line with the Ombudsman’s examination. The woman was refunded the full amount of the original penalty of €1,722.30.

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