Back payments to the tune of €933,435, plus interest to be added, are due to Irish sugar beet farmers and former sugar processor Greencore, the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed has said.

Speaking in response to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s Kevin O’Keeffe, Minister Creed said that no further details are available yet on the level of the refund or the number of recipients of the back payments.

The back payments are owed to farmers as a result of a European Court of Justice judgement on miscalculated levies.

Minister Creed said: “On 9 February 2017, the European Court of Justice delivered a judgement declaring invalid the European Commission regulations fixing the production levies and the coefficient for calculating the additional levy in the sugar sector for the marketing year 1999/2000 and for the marketing year 2000/2001.

“The court ruled that the European Commission was incorrect in calculating the annual levies set for the period in question.

“The court also found that the method used by the European Commission to fix the levies was incorrect, because it led to an overestimation of the costs to be covered and consequently overcharged to Greencore and the former beet growers.

“The levies for the marketing years in question, set by EU regulation, provided for a self-financing system for the sugar sector by means of flexible production levies,” he said.

Quotas

Minister Creed said that under EU regulations the common organisation of the markets in the sugar sector was based on the operation of a quota system on the principle that producers should bear full financial responsibility for the losses incurred each marketing year due to disposing of surplus sugar over the production quota allocated.

“In this connection, a new Council Regulation (EU)2018/264 signed into law on 19 February 2018 fixed the production levies and the coefficient for calculating the additional levy in the sugar sector for the 1999/2000 marketing year and fixing the production levies in the sugar sector for the 2000/2001 marketing year, giving effect to the court's decision.

“The principle amount to be reimbursed to the former sugar processor Greencore and the sugar beet growers for the years in question will be €933,435 (plus interest to be added). No further details are available at this time on the level of refund or the number of recipients,” he said.

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