Ireland escapes EU return of €263m

IRELAND is not among eight EU member states that will have to pay back a total of €263.5 million of unduly spent farm money.

The money will be recovered by the European Commission because of inadequate control procedures or non-compliance with EU rules on agricultural expenditure.

Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said this procedure has proved very successful in recovering money that has not been spent correctly.