Ireland to be fined €63m for false farm payment claims

The EU’s Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan has confirmed Ireland will have to pay a €63 million fine for incorrectly claiming EU farmer payments, mostly on ineligible land,

ICMSA President John Comer

However, the fine has been reduced from €181m originally proposed by the commission. It relates to payments made to Irish farmers over five years, from 2008 to 2012.

Ireland sought arbitration of the fine after the Department of Agriculture assessed 900,000 land parcels across Ireland to ascertain what the appropriate level of reimbursement to the commission should be, and calculated that it should be approximately €50 million.