Coveney takes fine fight to EU agri boss
Mr Coveney has gone to the top of the EU chain of command “because of our total surprise” at the fine.
He said he is “very annoyed” about the fine. “We had a clear understanding with the European Commission that this would not happen, and we intend to fight this vigorously. I believe we will be successful.” He confirmed his department received a letter on May 14 from the Commission audit services indicating that it proposed to exclude €181 million from EU funding to Ireland in respect of the direct aid scheme years from 2008 to 2012, inclusive.
“In effect, this amounts to a 2% flat rate penalty on the funding received for all direct aid in Pillar 1 and Pillar 2 for the five years in question.”
In July, 2013, Irish officials agreed to review all land parcels in Ireland used for single payments and other direct aids, identifying and excluding all ineligible features. Mr Coveney said: “The process would allow audits to be finalised based on the calculated risk rather than a flat rate correction, which is what the commission is proposing.”
Following review of 900,000 land parcels, Irish officials submitted the figures for ineligible features to the commission on February 5 last.
“In other words, the process was completed as agreed. By that time, my department had already commenced the collection of retrospective amounts from farmers to off-set any calculated bill.”
“The commission audit services carried out a conformity clearance audit in March this year to verify the extent of the control work completed on the LIPIS database.
“Following the audit mission, the commission auditors confirmed both verbally and by email that the correction would be based on an assessment calculated on risk, as previously discussed and agreed.”
“The imposition of a 2% flat rate correction in the letter of May 14 by the commission audit services was a complete surprise to me, and is neither justified on the basis of the findings of the audit mission nor from the justifications that the commission have relied upon, or on which it has applied the flat rate correction. We will vigorously defend our position because of the thoroughness we adopted.”
He said the land parcel review was not without pain for farmers in Ireland in terms of both disallowances as a result of mapping accuracy and retrospective payments.
“We will certainly not sit back and allow a situation where we are penalised on the double. The €181 million is just the start of a long discussion.”
