A DAERA spokesperson has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that any farmers found by the department to have removed landscape features, had the breach recorded and a penalty applied.
On p4 of the edition dated 18 October, we had noted that DAERA has moved to close an anomaly which has existed in cross compliance.
It related to when a farmer was found to have removed a landscape feature – if no prior permission had been sought, the department had no power to make the farmer reinstate what had been removed or undertake other mitigation work.
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However, if permission had been sought and mitigation work had to be done, (such as planting a new hedge to compensate for one that was removed), the department could insist this work was completed.
A couple of farmers who had received fines because they had not completed mitigation work on time, or to the correct standard, queried whether the anomaly meant they were treated differently to farmers who hadn’t sought any permission.
“If a farm business did not seek or is refused permission to remove a landscape feature by DAERA and is subsequently found to have removed the landscape feature, a breach of cross-compliance will be recorded and a penalty applied,” responded the DAERA spokesperson.
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A DAERA spokesperson has confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that any farmers found by the department to have removed landscape features, had the breach recorded and a penalty applied.
On p4 of the edition dated 18 October, we had noted that DAERA has moved to close an anomaly which has existed in cross compliance.
It related to when a farmer was found to have removed a landscape feature – if no prior permission had been sought, the department had no power to make the farmer reinstate what had been removed or undertake other mitigation work.
However, if permission had been sought and mitigation work had to be done, (such as planting a new hedge to compensate for one that was removed), the department could insist this work was completed.
A couple of farmers who had received fines because they had not completed mitigation work on time, or to the correct standard, queried whether the anomaly meant they were treated differently to farmers who hadn’t sought any permission.
“If a farm business did not seek or is refused permission to remove a landscape feature by DAERA and is subsequently found to have removed the landscape feature, a breach of cross-compliance will be recorded and a penalty applied,” responded the DAERA spokesperson.
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