Complete review of appeals process imminent

The news comes after the secretary general of the Department of Agriculture, Aidan O'Driscoll, appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Agriculture Committee on Tuesday evening.

In addition, it is believed that the Department has acknowledged and accepted that farm inspections are stressful for farm families, and has reportedly agreed to engage with farmers and the IFA to see if change can be brought about.

O'Driscoll appeared before the committee to answer questions over farm inspections, following pressure from IFA’s Tipperary North IFA chair Tim Cullinan. Cullinan spearheaded the farmer campaign over the past nine months against high level of inspections and penalties in North Tipperary.

Steering committee

A steering committee has been "set up by the Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed, to instigate a review of the 2001 act which put the appeals process in place", committee chair Pat Deering told the Irish Farmers Journal.

"The Department has also said that more could be done to communicate the terms and conditions of the schemes and processes involved. If farmers are not happy with the process in place, then it must be ensured that there is a fairer system," Deering concluded.

Cullinan and fellow IFA officials claim that the Nenagh office of the Department of Agriculture had the highest levels of farm inspections and cross-compliance in Ireland.

In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, Cullinan praised chair Pat Deering and his committee on their work during the process.

“I would like to compliment the chairman and the committee on their great work. For something that started in north Tipperary on the ground last September, I welcome the outcome that there is going to be a review,” he said.

“I also welcome the Department’s acknowledgement that they will engage with the IFA and farmers to bring about positive change.They accepted that changes were made each year to the handbook for the Basic Payment Scheme without going through the Charter of Farmers’ Rights process, and said they were willing to look at that,” Cullinan continued.

Inspections

As reported in last week’s Irish Farmers Journal, a delegation from North Tipperary IFA met with the Joint Oireachtas Agriculture Committee to outline their concerns overs the farm inspections.

The Department’s Nenagh office carried out an average of 321 inspections in each of the six years to 2015, compared with the national average of 299.

In addition, farmers here also faced higher average penalties for breaches in cross-compliance, the average being €880 nationally and €1,303 from the Nenagh office.

Farm inspections put in the spotlight

'Genuine concerns about inspections must be addressed'