Ireland has to review the 900,000 land parels as part of the process to achieve a redcution in the EU fine
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Ireland will pay a land eligibility fine of €63m, according to sources within the Department of Agriculture.
The fine, dating back to 2008, is a 65% reduction from the initial figure of €181.5m the EU tried to impose. That figure was a 2% flat-rate financial correction for Ireland for weaknesses in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) over the years 2008 to 2012.
Earlier in the year, the Minister of Agriculture Simon Coveney had alluded to reducing the fine to €50m, but more recently had set a goal of under €80m.
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While farmers might look back negatively on the whole process, the significant reduction was gained by a hard-fought campaign with the EU by the Department. This included a tortuous process of assessing each of the 900,000 land parcels across Ireland. Maps were sent to every farmer and thousands of changes made to parcels had to be verified.
The Department challenged the fine through the Conciliation Body in 2014, after which it continued to negotiate to reduce the final outcome during early 2015. Billions of euro in fines have been imposed on countries across Europe for weaknesses in implementation of their land parcel identification systems. France was hit with the largest fine of €1bn. Ireland was the only country to successfully get the fine reduced by verifying the area of every single parcel. With over €9bn paid to farmers from 2008 to 2012, the fine represents a correction of 0.6%. Ireland now has three years to repay the fine.
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Ireland will pay a land eligibility fine of €63m, according to sources within the Department of Agriculture.
The fine, dating back to 2008, is a 65% reduction from the initial figure of €181.5m the EU tried to impose. That figure was a 2% flat-rate financial correction for Ireland for weaknesses in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) over the years 2008 to 2012.
Earlier in the year, the Minister of Agriculture Simon Coveney had alluded to reducing the fine to €50m, but more recently had set a goal of under €80m.
While farmers might look back negatively on the whole process, the significant reduction was gained by a hard-fought campaign with the EU by the Department. This included a tortuous process of assessing each of the 900,000 land parcels across Ireland. Maps were sent to every farmer and thousands of changes made to parcels had to be verified.
The Department challenged the fine through the Conciliation Body in 2014, after which it continued to negotiate to reduce the final outcome during early 2015. Billions of euro in fines have been imposed on countries across Europe for weaknesses in implementation of their land parcel identification systems. France was hit with the largest fine of €1bn. Ireland was the only country to successfully get the fine reduced by verifying the area of every single parcel. With over €9bn paid to farmers from 2008 to 2012, the fine represents a correction of 0.6%. Ireland now has three years to repay the fine.
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